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ACCURATE AND RELIABLE. 



PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE; 



OR, THE 



cir |icl)cIIioii 0f 1S71. 



A SECOND REIGN OF TERROR, MURDER, AND MADNESS. 



EMBRACING THE FULL TEXT OF 

THE PINAL TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN GERMANY AND FRANCE, 

BEING THE ONLY TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH. 



v/ 



BY 



L. P. BROCKETT, M.D., 

AUTHOR OF "the CIVIL WAB IN AMERICA," " CAMP, BATTLEFIELD, AND HOSPITAL," "WOMAN'S 
WOBK IN THE CIVIL WAK," "THE TEAR OF BATTLES," 

ETC., ETC. 



Jllusttatetr. 




/^NEW YORK: 
H. S. GOODSPEED k CO., 37 PARK ROW. 



J. W. GOODSPEED & CO., 148 Lake St., Chi. 
A. H. HUBBARD, Philadelphia. 
H. H. NATT & CO., Cincinnatl 



SCHUYLER SMITH, Prescott, Ont. 
JAMES H. DOBBS & CO., Erie, Pa. 
B. R. STURGES, BOSTON. 



F. DEWING & CO., San Francisco. 
1871. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 

By L. p. BROCKETT, M.D. 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



[THE LIBRARri 
MJASHINGTONI 



■^HB NEW TOBK PBrNTING COMPACT, 
305, 207, 309, SU, 313 Ea«t IStli StrMt. 



PREFACE. 



To the great majority of intelligent readers, the con- 
fused and contradictory reports and letters in the daily 
papers concerning the insurrection in Paris, have rendered 
the whole affair a hopeless muddle. They have found 
themselves unable to distinguish who the leaders of the 
Commune were, what they wanted, or for what they were 
fighting. Yet this insurrection will occupy, as it should, 
a large space in history, for in all respects it has been 
more terrible and destructive, thongh less protracted, than 
the " Kei2;n of Terror " of the First French Revolution. 

It has seemed to the writer an object worthy of 
effort, to give a clear and succinct account of this " Red 
Rebellion," freed from contradictions and discrepancies, 
and to state briefly but plainly what were the objects 
sought by the anarchists, and what the foul deeds done 
by them. For this purpose he possessed more than ordi- 
nary facilities, in the reports of the French papers of both 
sides, in a large mass of correspondence of personal friends, 
as well as of the leading papers, and in a very thorough 
and C9,reful study of French revolutions in general. 



PEEFACE. 



The excellent map of Paris and its environs, engraved 
expressly for this work by Mr. C. Weber, so thoroughly 
illustrates the text as to be an invaluable aid to the intel- 
ligibility of the narrative. 

The Treaty of Frankfort (the final treaty between 
France and Germany), concluded on the tenth of May, and 
ratified a week later, is in these pages first presented 
complete in an English dress, nothing more than a very 
brief and imperfect summary of some of its provisions 
having previously been attempted. It is here translated 
from the official French copy. We regard it as impor- 
tant to a satisfactory understanding of the future rela- 
tions of the two countries. 

Trusting that this effort to gratify the desire of the 
public for valid and authentic information concerning an 
event of so much importance, may receive the same 
approval and success which has attended his previous 
works, the author subscribes himself the public's very 
humble servant, 

L. P. B. 

Bkooklyn, N. T., July, 1871. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 



The restlessness of the French working class. — Frenchmen not homogeneous. — Class hatreds. — The 
erroneous principle of the duty of the State to provide labor or support to all its citizens, at the 
foundation of the disturbance. — To this Louis Philippe owed his downfall. — Louis Napoleon pre- 
tended to adopt this false doctrine, but finally repudiated it. — Where the strength of this govern- 
ment la}% enmity between the peasantry and bourgeoisie. — Its causes. — Hardships of the Ouvrier 
class. — The enrolment of many of them in the National Guard. — Revival of the old hostility with 
the surrender of the city.— E.^cistence of secret organizations among the workingmen.— The favorable 
opportunity for an insiurection. — The National Guard supplied with arms.- — The fiirst measiures of 
the Reds. — M. Thiers' hesitation and uncertainty. — Organization of the Commune. — M. Thiers' 
attempts at pacification. — Their failure. — The high-handed outrages of the Commune. — ^M. Thiers' 
policy. — He puts down the insurrection,but at heavy loss of life. — The rage of the Communists. — 
They seek to destroy Paris. — Their murders and outrages. — The result pp. 405-412 



CHAPTER II. 

The members of the National Assembly from Paris all radicals — Their subsequent course. — The " In- 
ternational Association" of AVorldngmen. — Its leading representative at Paris, M. Assi. — His char- 
acter. — The other leaders of the insurrection. — Adventures, civil and military. — No master mind 
among them. — Sullenness of the Parisians after the signing of the preliminary treaty. — Thiers' 
mistake. — Removal of the National Assembly to Versailles. — Insubordination and discontent of 
the National Guards of Paris.: — The demands. — Attempts at mediation. — Critical position of M. 
Thiers. — The first effort at coercion on March 18th. — Its failure. — Several of the Government 
Generals taken prisoners. — Generals Thomas and Le Comte shot. — Consternation in Paris. — 
Withdrawal of Vinoy to the left bank of the Seine. — Proclamations of the Beds. — The election of 
members of the Commune. March 26. — M. Thiers temporizes and offers concessions, but to no ptu:- 
pose. — More proclamations from the "Bed" leaders. — Election of one hundred and six members 
of the "Commune." — Inauguration of the Government of the Commune, March 28. — Great dis- 
play. — The programme of the "Commune." — The prospects of the "Beds" in other parts of 
France. — Lyons, Marseilles, Toulouse, &c. — Decrees of the Paris Commune. — Their anarchical 
character. — Their military preparations. — The sub-Central and Executive Committees. — Their 
tyranny. — The new Generals. — Imprisonment of two members of the Commune. — A general 
stampede fi-om Paris. — Besignation of the sub-Central Committee and appointment of a new 
Executive Committee pp. 413-424 

CHAPTER III. 

Improved condition of the Government troops and position. — Shrewd management of M. Thiers. — 
The Commune leaders corrupt and ready to become traitors to their cause. — Blanqui captured 
and imprisoned. — " The Commune" resolves after some delay to attack the Government, drive it 
from Versailles, and compel the release of Blanqui. — The skirmishes and battles of April 2d, 3d, 
4th, and 5th. — Bepulse of the Commune's troops. — Their confidence that the garrison of Fort 
Mont Valerien would not fire on them. — Their fright and disorganization when it commenced 
fire. — Duval and Flourens killed. — The Government troops show no sympathy for the Paris Na- 
tional Guards. — The fighting severe on the west and south of Paris. — ChatUlon taken and held by 



b CONTENTS. 

the Versailles troops. — Tha fighting renewed on the 7th of April at NeuiUy. — The Versaillists gain 
a position at Neuilly. — Bugeret disgraced and imprisoned. — Dombrowski in command. — Fighting 
on the 8th. — Advance of the Versaillists. — Terrific bombardment of the Maillot gate. — Effects of the 
bombardment. — Internal difficulties in the Commune. — Assi and G-ambon imprisoned, and twenty- 
two others of the members of the "Commune " forced to resign. — G-ustave Cluseret Minister of 
War.-^His character. — His atrocious decrees. — Imprisonment and murder of innocent citizens. — 
Imprisonment of the archbishop and leading priests of the city. — Suppression of the Interna- 
tional Aid Society, and confiscation of its goods. — Other outrages.^The cardinal articles of the 
Commune's creed. — Treachery of Cluseret. 
Marshal MacMahon in chief command of the Versailles army. — ^His plan of operations. — G-reat 
strength of the Southern and AVestern sides of Paris. — Reasons why an attack on this side was 
necessary. — ^Very little progress made for eight or ten days ; but the Versaillists hold what they 
have already gained. — M. Thiers' offer of concessions. — Cluseret's attempt to sell out for 2,500,000 
francs, to be paid to him personally. — Dombrowski's previous history. — ^His fortifications at 
Asnieres. — Their speedy evacuation. — The Versailles troops while holding their position on the 
West, and erecting new batteries of heavy siege guns, make their heaviest assaults on the south 
against Forts Issy, Vanvres, and Montrouge. — Their advance and success. — Issy nearly captured. — 
General la Cecilia put in command of it by Cluseret. — Cluseret removed from oflioe and Assi 
again imprisoned. — Kossel, Minister of War. — His treachery. — State of Affairs at the end of 
April pp. 425-437 



CHAPTER IV. 

Armistice of May 1st and 2d. — ^Bombardment renewed May 3d. — Terrific fire on the West and South 
of the City. — Fort Issy captured May 9, and Vanvres a few days later. — Effect of the bombard- 
ment of Auteuil and Point du Jour. — Rossel's resignation. — He asks for a cell in prison. — G-ets it, 
but escapes.- — Open rupture in Paris between the Committee of PubUc Safety and the Executive 
Committee of the Commune. — Infatuation of the Communists.— Their terrible excesses and crimes. — 
Their order to give no quarter to the Versailles troops. — The Column of July in the Place Ven- 
dome pulled down and destroyed. — Destruction of M. Thiers' residence. — ^Abstraction and subse- 
quent destruction of his library and works of art. — Delescluze the reigning spirit of the times, but 
finding the affairs of State too heavy, calls Billioray, another traitor, to his assistance. — New Po- 
lish officers appointed to command. — Continued quarrels among the leaders. — Women organized 
into regiments as soldiers and destroyers of property. — ^Non-combatants placed under the hottest 
fire to build barricades, and if they fall back, murdered. — The moderate newspapers suppressed, 
and their editor shot byBaoul Rigault. — Last attempts of the Communists to fight outside the ram- 
parts. May 16th and 17th. — Their failure. — Severe bombardment at all points on the 19th, 20th, 
and 21st. — Breeches efliected in the enceinte at the Point du Jour, the St. Cloud Gate, and the 
gate of Montrouge. — Petit Vanvres, Malakoff, and Port Montrouge taken. — The Versailles troops 
enter the city by the St. Cloud Gate and the gate of Montrouge, on the night of the 31st. — The 
resistance not great at the barricades generally, but very stubborn at Montmartre, Belleville, the 
Place Vendome, the TuUeries, the Hotel de ViUe, &,c. — Finding that there was no prospect of suc- 
cess, they resolved to fire the city. — Women and children engaged in this work. — About one-third 
of the city destroyed, including the Tuileries, part of the Louvre, the Hotel deVille, Palais Royal, 
&c., &,c. — The Archbishop and sixty-six other "hostages " murdered. — Final fight at Pere la Chaise. 
— The terrible results : Paris in ruins, fifty thousand dead, as many more wounded, constant execu- 
tions. — The leaders mostly killed or in prison, and the destruction stiU less than the fiends designed. 
— The utter depravity of the leaders. — The future of France. — ^What will it be ? — The Republic ? — 
The Bourbons ? — The Orleans ? — The Bonapartes ? — Atheistic or Papal f pp. 440-451 



CHAPTER V. 

Incidents and episodes. — M. Joseph G-amier's account of the condition of Paris under the sway 
of the Commune. — The adventurers. — The Central Committee. — The Committee of Public 
f^f ety. — What were the Communists fighting for ? — Their decrees. — Vivid picture of the condition 
of affairs. — Bugeret's atheism. — Cluseret's pass to the priests. — The worthlessness of the National 
Guards as soldiers. — The embarrassment of the Commume in regard to money. — Their financial 



CONTENTS. 7 

rtatementg.— Their plunder and thefts.— Their recklessnesa.— The explosion of the cartridge fac- 
tory at Grenelle. — Destruction of the Napoleon Column In the Place Venddme. — Account of a Tri- 
bum correspondent. — The entrance of the Versailles troopa into Paris, May 21st. — Tho energy and 
patriotisiQ of Duranel. — Major Forbes' description of their entrance. — Ferocity of the leaden of 
the Commune on finding that all was lost.— The plot to blow up the entire city. — The murder of 
Archbishop Darboy and his companions. — M. Evrard's narrative.— The fury of the women incen- 
diaries and soldiers. — The large number of women executed for incendiarism and murder. — The 
London Tim^ correspondent's narratives. — The public buildings burned. — Destruction of the 
Tuileries.— The Louvre.- The Hot«l de Ville.— The Palais Royal.— The Palace of the Legion of 
Honor. — The Palais du Quai d'Orsay. — ^Appearance of the captured city on the 28th of May. — 
Sketches of the leaders of the Commune. — Louis Auguste Blanqui. — G-ustave Flourens. — FeUx 

Pyat. — Louis Charles Delescluze. — Duval. — Gustave Cluseret. — Henri Rochefort. — Bugeret 

Dombrowski. — Louis Nathaniel RosseL — Eudes. — Wroblowski. — Billioray. — Paschal Grousset. — 
Raoul Rigault — Assi. — What became of the rest. — The wives of Generals Eudes and La CecUia. — 
No first-class man among the whole crew pp. 452-496 



CHAPTER VI. 

The necessity for a final treaty. — The Commissioners for its negotiation : Favre, Ponyer-Quertier, and 
Goulard ; Von Bismarck and Amim. — The difficulties in the way of its negotiation. — The conse- 
quent delay. — The text of the final treaty, translated for this work. — The additional articles 

Ratification of the treaty by the French National Assembly, May 17, and by the Emperor Wilhelm, 
May 19. — The financial condition of France after the treaty and the suppression of the Parisian 
rebellion. — Her immense debt — over $6,000,000,000. — The success of the loan called for. — The pay- 
ment of the first instalment of the indemnity. — The elections in France, July 2d, 1871, to fill the 
vacancies in the National Assembly. — The Republicans largely in the majority. — This secures a 
EepubUc for two years. — The triumphal entry of the German troops or their representatives into 
Berlin.— The unvailing of the statue of Frederick Wilhelm III.— End pp. 497-510 



HOISTING THE RED FLAG ON THE DOJME OJF THE PANTHEON. 



■ THE RED REBELLION OF 1871 : 

A SECOND REIGN OF TERROR, MURDER,- AND MADNE?S. 



PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE 



OK, 



CHAPTER I. 



THOUGH all the friends of France may have hoped that after 
the disastrous termination of the war with Germany her 
people would be wise enough to remain quiet, and endeavor, by 
patient industry and enterprise, to repair the devastations of war 
and restore their country to its former place among the great 
powers of Europe, those who knew the French people best, could 
hardly have expected it. 

The French people are not homogeneous in their character, 
like the Germans, the Spanish, and the English. The first Revo- 
lution (1T89-93) made manifest to the world the intense hatred 
which had so long brooded in the hearts of the peasantry of 
France (including the entire working classes, and also a large 
portion of the literary class) against the nobles and property 
holders. There was unquestionably much reason for this : they 



14: PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

had been cruelly oppressed, wronged, and robbed by the aristo- 
cratic and middle classes. They had been scorned and crushed 
when they sought for peaceful redress, and at last the savage 
element in their natures — inherited, it may be, from those fierce 
robber hordes so long the terror of Phrygia and Mysia, from 
which they originally sprang — found vent in deeds of carnage, 
anarchy, and terror, which have ever since made the world shud- 
der. 

But if they had some real provocation for this mad outbreak, 
it was also in part the result of false teachings. The age was 
infidel and godless ; the tendencies of the public teachings of 
the philosophers, politicians, and scholars of the day all tended 
to agrarianism, lawlessness, and bloodshed. Human life was of 
very little account ; especially were the lives of kings, princes, and 
nobles the prey of the masses : they had no right to live, and if 
they did save their lives by exile, they should henceforth be only 
allowed to live in obscurity and wretchedness. We all know the 
reactions which followed this revolution, — how the Corsican 
became First Consul, Dictator, and Emperor, and proved himself 
as great a tyrant as any of the Bourbons ; how, in 1815, the 
Bourbons were restored and the old traditions of the pre-revolu- 
tionary period were re-established ; how, in 1830, the people 
again revolted, and introduced, with the citizen king, a new and 
dangerous doctrine, or rather a doctrine which had been held in 
abeyance since the first revolution, viz., that it was the duty of 
the State to jprovide work for the laboring classes, or, failing in 
that, to support them without it. This doctrine, which had 
proved the destruction of the Roman Empire in the plenitude of 
its power and glor}^, became henceforth the cardinal doctrine 
of the working and vagrant classes of the French people, and was 
constantly proclaimed by the ambitious and unprincipled dema- 
gogues, who were too numerous for the good of the nation at all 
times. 



OR, THE KED REBELLION OF 187L 15 

We need only glance at the subsequent history of the nation 
to see how this pernicious doctrine, constantly reiterated and am- 
plified by liot-headed Reformers, had poisoned the blood of the 
masses, and led directly to the fierce civil war of the spring of 
1871. 

Louis Pliilippe owed his downfall, in 1848, mainly to the con- 
viction of this jproletarian class that he was not their tool, but 
possessed reactionary tendencies ; and the revolutionists were 
only prevented by Lamartine's tact from raising, at that time, 
the red flag, and enacting scenes of blood such as have recently 
been witnessed. Louis Napoleon, in his bid for the Presidency, 
recognized this doctrine, and indeed professed, as he had previ- 
ously done, to be the reddest of Red Republicans ; but once in 
power, he pm-sued a more despotic sj^stem of repression than any 
of his predecessors. He had, however, sufiicient tact to propitiate 
this Cerberus of the populace by occasional largesses, and at- 
tempted control of the price of bread and the labor market ; but 
the leaders of the proletariat were kept in exile or imprisoned, 
unless they gave in their submission to his usurpations. There 
were, meantime, other classes which had become powerful in the 
government, and in the maintenance of the existing order of 
things. The great reliance of Napoleon III. was upon his army, 
which he had taken great pains to attach strongly to himself and 
his dynasty; but, with the most inconceivable folly, he had per- 
mitted and encouraged its participation in the prevalent corrup- 
tion and frauds upon the national resources, till the soul of honor 
was eaten out of it, and it was too rotten to be a real dependence. 
The Empress, on her part, had sought to conciliate the Pope and 
the Jesuits, and had become their dupe ; and while these wily 
courtiers were loud in their professions of Bonapartism, they 
were really intriguing to bring back the old Bourbon rule, as 
more easily controlled for their purposes. But the strongest 
pillar of the Bonaparte dynasty was the bourgeoisie or middle 



16 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

class, the traders, shopkeepers, property-holders, and the new 
aristocracy which had sprung from them. This class sustained 
Napoleon III., not because of the prestige of his name, or any 
special reverence or love for him, but because they wanted a 
strong government, one which would protect their property, and 
give them better opportunities for money-making. They would 
have been just as warm friends of an Orleanist prince, if they 
could have had the same assurance of success in money-getting 
and material prosperity under his rule. Between the bourgeoisie 
and the peasant class there has existed for years the bitterest 
hostility ; during the Empire the large majorities for Republican 
members of the Corps Legislatif dlwSiy^ came from this class in 
Paris and other large cities, the hourgeoisie always voting solidly 
for the Emperor's candidates. When the Empire fell, the 
Government of National Defense, composed, as it was, of men of 
all opinions, did not dare to submit its claims to ]3opular suffrage 
in Paris, knowing that they would be voted down as not radical 
enough to suit the Peds ; but Rochefort, and at first Elourens, 
were put into the Government as their representatives. They 
were, during the siege, furnished with arms, which ISTapoleon III. 
had always withheld from them, and there being probable need 
of their services, they were enrolled into the National Guard (the 
French Militia), which indeed, in Paris, was mostly made up of 
these working-men, and the idlers and vagabonds who always 
abound in large cities, and in none more than Paris. The Ouvriers 
and Ouvrieres (working-men and working- women) of Paris, whose 
numbers were estimated at 750,000 before the war, differ very ma- 
terially from the working classes in other large cities, in possess- 
ing less of the home seiitiment. While many of them are peas- 
ants from the country, a very large proportion are foundlings and 
illegitimate children, the waifs and estrays of the great city, with 
no ties or attachments to bind them to the city in which they live. 
Life has been a hard struggle with them. Their toil brings them 



OK, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 19 

little more than a meagre subsistence, and that little is squandered 
upon the lowest amusements and such vices as they can afford. 
Naturally vivacious, they have no pleasant outlook for the future, 
and they enjoy what they can, as the time passes. This lack of 
home ties and the home sentiment leaves them without barriers 
against a vicious life, and they but too often glide into it. Dur- 
ing the siege these new National Guards were with some difficulty 
kept tolerably quiet ; two or three times the insurrectionary spirit 
broke out, as when under Flourens they took possession of the 
Hotel de Tille and deposed the government, and when, after the 
sortie of January 15, they insisted upon Trochu's removal ; but, 
receiving their daily pay as National Guards, and having only tri- 
fling duties to perform, they were more quiet than was to have 
been expected. 

The working- women, and those of the men not enrolled in the 
National Guard, fared harder. With the exception of such kinds 
of w^ork as were directly connected with the war — the casting of 
cannon, repairing of firearms and other weapons, manufacturing 
cartridges and army equipments, soldiers' clothing, &c., and the 
necessary production of bread and preparation of meats for the 
market — almost every kind of manufacture had stopped ; the ten 
thousand industries of Paris had all ceased, and the scores of 
thousands employed in them must find other employment or 
stance. That very many did starve is, unhappily, too well estab- 
lished by the testimony of Mr. Washburne, Mr. Labouchere, Mr. 
Sheppard, and others who were in the besieged city, as well as by 
the frightful bills of mortality which, with a constantly decreas- 
ing population, grew larger every week. 

When the city was surrendered, and provisions again began to 
flow in, the old bitterness against the hourgeoisie began to revive, 
and there were many demonstrations, of trifling importance in 
themselves, which yet indicated that there was beneath the appa- 
rently placid surface a seething, boiling volcano. The sullen and 
2 



20 



PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUNE; 



contemptuous forbearance manifested when the German army- 
entered Paris (March 1-3), the jaws resolutely set, the breath' 
held hard, the muttered curses and the clenched fists, all indicated 
how fierce was the desire for revenge on them, and how bitter 
their hatred of the French leaders who had brought them into the 
condition of humiliation. 

Whether, under any circumstances, the outbreak which followed 
so soon after the ratification of the preliminary treaty of peace 
could have been prevented, it is impossible to say with certainty. 
There had existed before the close of the siege a secret organiza- 
tion of working-men and some of the more restless of the infe- 
rior leaders, which seems to have formed the nucleus of the sub- 
sequent " Commune." At first everything seemed to be in their 
favor. The new government of M. Thiers, organized in great 
haste, had not had time for consolidation. It knew little of the 
army, and had but slight infiuence over it, and none over the ISTa- 
tional Guard, which it had most stupidly stipulated was to be 
permitted to retain henceforth its arms, even while the regular 
troops were required to surrender theirs, and this National Guard 
— composed of Red Republicans, working-men who had lost all 
desire for work, vagabonds who never had any, and visionaries, 
demagogues, humanitarians, and adventurers, who were unani- 
mous on only one point, that the present government must be 
overturned, and they be allowed the opportunity of trying their 
crude and mad schemes — were to be the protectors of Paris and 
the preservers of order. A portion of this guard had already, 
under patriotic pretences, fortified themselves on the heights of 
Montmartre. Finding that they really possessed a formidable 
amount of power, the Peds immediately commenced exercising 
it — at first moderately, but presently with a violence which roused 
hostility, and only showed that the craziest of their visionaries 
had taken the reins. 

At fii'st they objected to General D'Aurellcs de Paladines, who 




PROCLAHATION OP "THE COMMUNE" IN FEONT OF THE HOTEL DE VILLE. 




CANNONS POINTED FROM MONTMAETEE TO SWEEP THE CITY OF PAEIS. 



OK, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 23 

had been appointed Commandant of the city, and to General Yinoy, 
the second in command. A part of their demands being acceded 
to, though th(;re seem to have been no reasons offered for them, 
they were emboldened to make further claims : the National As- 
sembly must be dissolved and a new one chosen to sit in Paris. 
Their pay of one and a half franc per day must be continued ; 
they must be permitted to elect their own rulers, and govern 
themselves and France as well; their fortified positions must not. 
be disturbed, and they must be allowed to dictate who should be 
the prefect of Paris. 

Uncertain how far he could depend upon the troops, many of 
whom seemed disposed to affiliate with the Peds, and knowing; 
that ruin would be the consequence of defeat, M. Thiers tempo- 
rized and parleyed with the insurgent party, conceded some of 
their demands, and hesitated before resorting to force. His first 
attempt to compel the malcontents of the heights of Montmartre- 
to yield proved a somewhat disastrous failure. The soldiers, 
(themselves mostly National Guards), who had surrounded the- 
insurgents, began to yield to their clamors and entreaties, and, re- 
fusing to fire upon them, deserted their officers and guns and fra- 
ternized with the revolt. The mob now became the masters of 
the situation, captured several of the leading Generals of the- 
Republic, two of whom they subsequently put to death, took 
possession of the Hotel de Yille, organized what they called the 
Central Committee of the National Guard, thirty in number,, 
which presently gave way to " The Commune," and drove out 
the officers of the Government, and proceeded t® ereet barricade* 
to defend Paris from the Republican Government, which thej 
alleged had betraiyed them. 

M. Thiers, on his side, fortified Yersailles, and waited, first to 
ascertain whether other cities were infected with the spirit of re- 
volt; next, to see if some pacification was not yet possible, or if 
this mongrel government, composed of all manner of discordant 



24 PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

elements, would not fall to pieces of its own weight ; then to ac- 
cumulate a sufficient force of trusty troops to make sure that his 
next blow should be both successful and terrible, and when the 
fulness of time had come, though not till " old chaos had come 
again " and the horrors of the first reign of terror had been re- 
peated, with added atrocities, he delivered those sudden and 
repeated blows which crushed out the insurrection, deprived Paris 
forever of its prestige as the soul of France, and after frightful 
carnage, and terrible destruction of much that was precious in 
history and art, both by his troops and the insurgents, made it 
possible to maintain a government of law and order in the 
French capital. 

For the first time in five hundred years Paris has ceased to rule 
France, and has, in her turn, been subjected to the provinces. It 
has been demonstrated that a weak government, hardly organized, 
and with an army of doubtful loyalty to it, had been able to ac- 
complish what powerful kings and mighty emperors have essayed 
in vain. Paris, the proud, the haughty, the magnificent and im- 
perious, is thoroughly humbled and subdued, and that by one of 
her ovra sons. Her pride, her corruption, her infidelity and reck- 
lessness have brought this terrible calamity upon her. What 
other and greater evils, or what restoration and triumph, may be 
hers in the future, no man may now say ; but for the present she 
has been compelled to drink to the dregs of a bitter cup of 
humiliation and anguish. 




THE PANTHEON. 



CHAPTER II. 

AYiTii the preceding brief summary of the insurrection and the 
causes which prompted it, we proceed to enter into more minute 
details of its history. As we have ah-eady said, the circumstan- 
ces were favorable for an outbreak of Communism. A large 
proportion of the population remaining in the city were either 
Red Republicans or partially sympathized with them. The mem- 
bers of the National Assembly elected from Paris were all Radi- 
cals, and several of them subsequently leaders in the insurrec- 
tion. Among them we find many names familiar as leaders in 
the ranks of the opposition in the days of the Empire, and some 
during the war. Gambetta, Garibaldi, Rochefort, Delescluze, 
Felix Pyat, Blanqui, Milliere, Louis Blanc, Quinet, Yictor Hugo, 
Admiral Saisset, General Langlois, Victor Schoelcher, Tolain, 
Lockroy, and Gustave Flourens were among them. Of these, 
Garibaldi returned to Italy ; Gambetta remained in the prov- 
inces.; Rochefort, Delescluze, Pyat, Blanqui, Milliere, and Yic- 
tor Hugo sided with the Commune, though some of them left 
it subseqiaently in disgust, and others were either slain in battle 
or executed by the Yersaillists when taken prisoners. Yictor 
Schoelcher, Saisset, and Lockroy attempted, but unsuccessfully, 
to mediate between the insm'gents and the Thiers government ; 
and Louis Blanc, Quinet, and Tolain, with the last three, re- 
mained members of the Assembly. 

There had existed for some years in most of the European 
States an organization known as the " International Association 
of Workingmen," having its chapters or auxiliaries in each conn- 



28 PAEI8 UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

try. It was a less formidable and less revolutionary Association 
than the tCarhonari / but seems to have had a mild tendency to 
revolt. M. Assi, the leading representative of the Association in 
Paris, a weak-minded and half -crazy Frenchman, gave in his ad- 
hesion to the insurrection very early, and endeavored to rouse the 
auxiliaries in other States to aid them ; but, probably from lack of 
coniidence in him, hardly any of them responded. Beyond the 
popular favorites we have named, who had been elected members 
of the National Assembly, there were many others : unsuccessful 
military adventurers, or discontented lawyers, or workingmen 
who aspired to the government of Paris, and through Paris 
of all France : for it was a maxim of these reformers that they 
and they only had the right to govern France ; that the ignorant 
peasantry and bourgeoisie of the rural districts were incapable of 
governing themselves, and needed to be controlled and managed 
by the philosophers, visionaries, and adventurers of Paris, Seve- 
ral of these, like General Cluseret, of whom we had some 
experience during the earlier portion of our own war ; General 
Dombrowski, General Bergeret, General Duval, General Eudes, 
General Granier, and General Brunei had been military adven- 
turers, most of them, as we should say, " Militia Generals " of no 
very good reputation, but determined at this emergency to come 
to the surface. Others of equal ambition, and no greater mental 
calibre, like Blanqui, Grousset, Raoul Rigault, Felix Pyat, 
Amouroux, Billioray, Yalles, and Courbet, had never been in 
military life, but desired and obtained, for a very brief period, 
prominent civil positions. But among them all there was no 
man possessing any high order of talent — the capacity to rule — ■ 
which enabled him to take the lead and control these restless and 
fickle masses by the power of his imperious will. Had there 
been such a leader, the struggle would have been longer, fiercer, 
and, in the end, more disastrous. 

The sullen mood of the Parisians after the signing of the pre- 







SESSION OP THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES, 



*" 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. SI 

liminary treaty, and the departure of the German troops from 
Paris, on the 4th, 5th, and 6th of March, was ominous of a com- 
ing storm, and to M. Thiers, whom the Eeds openly denounced 
as a traitor because he had signed the treaty, it must have been 
anything but reassuring. He had, in the hope of pleasing them, 
been so weak as to stipulate that the National Guard of Paris, 
whom he knew to be disaffected, should be allowed to retain their 
arms, man the forts, and be the protectors of order in Paris, 
while the soldiers of the line in that city were required to surren- 
dei' all their arms. He had thus put into the hands of these 
revolutionists weapons and power, wliich with an able leader 
would have proved fatal to his authority. 

He proceeded, however, with the concurrence of the National 
Assembly, to assign officers, both civil and military, to duty in 
Paris, and on the lltli of March procured a vote for the removal 
of the National Assembly, on the 20th of March, from Bourdeaux 
to Yersailles. 

As we have said elsewhere, the National Guards occupied forti- 
fied positions at Montmartre and Belleville, suburban districts 
of the city, and they refused to leave these at M. Thiers' request. 
Presently, under the influence of some of the demagogues whom 
we have named, they began to make demands on the President. 
General D'Aiu-elles de Paladines, a really brave and meritorious 
officer, who had taken Orleans from the Germans in October, and 
whom President Thiers had placed in command of the National 
Guard, was not at all satisfactory to those Guards who had seen 
little or no fighting, nor was General Yinoy, the second in com- 
mand, any more so. They demanded, then, that both should be 
removed, and they should have the privilege of choosing their 
own commander. M. Thiers assigned General D'Aurelles to 
duty elsewhere, and made General Yinoy chief, but he could not, 
of course, yield to them the election of their commander, and 
they went away dissatisfied. Presently they, returned with other 



32 PAKIS UNDER THE COMMUNE; 

demands — they must be allowed their thirty sous a day wages for 
an indefinite period — it was so much easier to play soldier than 
to work for a living. They demanded further that they should 
be allowed to elect their own municipal officers, and that Jules 
Terry, a noisy demagogue, should be appointed Prefect of Paris 
in place of the able M. Yalentin. They persistently refused to 
give up their cannon meanwhile, and daily fortified their position 
on the heights of Montmartre. Louis Blanc, Yictor Schoelcher, 
and Admiral Saisset, all recognized as Radicals, visited them and 
endeavored to act as mediators ; but so far were they from relax- 
ing any of their demands, or making any concessions, that they 
daily grew more imperious and insolent. 

M. Thiers was in a critical position. His authority must be 
maintained and no large concessions made, or all was lost ; yet he 
could not tell how far he could rely upon the loyalty of his troops, 
themselves National Guards or Volunteers, in a conflict with 
these insubordinate National Guards ; and yet until the soldiers of 
the regular army, who were prisoners in Germany, could return, 
he had no other dependence but these troops of doubtful loyalty. 
Then, too, if an insurrection commenced among these " working- 
men." would it be confined to Paris? "Would not Marseilles and 
Lyons, Havre, Toulouse, Toulon, Bourdeaux, Nantes, and the other 
large cities rise also ? 

He temporized as long as it was possible, insisting each day 
that the Guards should relinquish their fortifications on the 
heights of Montmartre, and surrender their cannon, as a condition 
precedent to further concessions on his part. 

At length, finding them determined not to obey, and satisfied 
that further delay was ruinous, he caused General Yinoy, on the 
night of March 17th, to post a cordon of troops around the 
heights of Montmartre, and plant mitrailleuses at the approaches. 
At an early hour on the morning of March 18th the insurgents 
were summoned to surrender ; important positions wore occupied, 




COMMUNIST PRESS-aAJSTG- IN THE STREETS OP PARIS. 




SHOOTING OP GENERALS LECOMPTB AND THOMAS. 



OR, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871. S5 

and the guns of the revolted suburban National Guards were 
about to be removed, when the soldiers began to yield to popular 
clam ore and entreaties, and soon all bonds of discipline were 
loosened, the mitrailleuses abandoned by the artillerists, the 
officers deserted by their men, and the revolters, aided by 
National Guards from other quarters, became masters of the situ- 
ation at Montniartre, as well as at Belleville and La Yillette,. 
Thus re-enforced, the insurgents turned at once upon the officers- 
and the remnant of Republican troops which remained loyal to> 
the Government. General Surville was killed, General Yinoyr 
was pelted by a mob, General Paturel was wounded, and Gem- 
erals D'Aurelles de Paladines, Clement Thomas, and Lecomte,, 
and subsequently also General Chanzy, who was most brutally- 
beaten and maltreated, were taken prisoners. General Faroa 
was surrounded, but, his detachment of troops remaining faith- 
ful, succeeded in cutting his way through. Other detachments, 
refusing to fight, withdrew to the left bank of the Seine, and 
after a short time the Hotel de Yille, the general headquarters 
of the National Guards of the capital, the ministries, the mayor- 
alties, and the prefecture of police were in the hands of the in- 
surgents, the bulk of the National Guards remaining passive; 
and all the members of the Government, with the undisbanded 
remnants of the public force, finally withdrew to Yersailles. 

The headquarters of the insurrection before this triumph were 
in the Rue des Rosiers, Montmartre, where a " Central Rev- 
olutionary Committee," subsequently superseded by the " Na- 
tional Guards Committee," had established itself in a public gar- 
den. Before that revolutionary body, composed, as it seems, of 
men of little note, as no names are mentioned, the captive gen- 
erals were brought. Two of these, Clement Thomas and Le- 
comte, were after a brief trial, worthy of the days of Septem- 
ber, 1792, condemned to suffer death as traitors to the Republic, 
and " taken out and shot." " All accounts say they died bravely." 



36 PAEIS TJNDEK THE COMMUNE ; 

The last words of the brave and liberal-minded Clement 
Thomas, who but a few weeks before commanded the largest 
body of the defenders of Paris, under Trochu, is reported to 
have been, " Cowards ! " The fate of Chanzy was left un- 
decided. 

General Yinoy, who was at the head of the Government troops, 
escaped the clutches of the executioners, and succeeded in reor- 
ganizing a portion of the forces under his command. Consterna- 
tion and stupefaction reigned in Paris, and the revolutionists 
were left to do their work unchecked, although the press next 
morning mustered courage enough to brand the proceedings as 
atrocious and fatal to the republican liberty of France. Men of 
prominence fled the capital, various quarters of which were 
strongly barricaded. All approaches to it were ultimately 
closed, and some of the forts occupied by the Nationals. 

On the next day Yinoy withdrew his troops, a miserable rem- 
Hant, to the left bank of the Seine, and awaited further develop- 
ments ; while the insurgents manned the defences of Paris and 
took possession of all its inner line of forts. 

The position was critical, and had the Reds at this time pos- 
sessed a leader of any ability they might have effected almost irre- 
parable mischief ; but, fortunately, there were too many aspirants 
for the command, and not one of them 2:)ossessed any capacity for 
ruling. " The National Guard Committee," having taken posses-, 
sion of the Hotel de Yille (the City Hall of Paris), issued procla- 
mations thick and fast. In one of these they extolled their late 
action, declaring that it was done " in defence of the Arch of 
the Liberties of the Republic — the only government that can 
close the era of invasion and civil war ; " in another they modestly 
declared to the people of Paris, "We have driven out the Govern- 
ment which betrayed us. Our mission is fulfilled, and we now 
report to you." In another, issued the same day (March 21), they 
decree immediate elections for the Commune; and in still 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 3Y 

another, announce tliat they have sent their ultimatum to the 
Versaillists, demanding as the price of peace and harmony the 
appointment of Langlois as Commander-in-chief of the National 
Guards, of Dorian as Mayor of Paris, of Billault as Commander 
of the Army of the Seine, and of Jules Ferry as Prefect of Po- 
lice. 

The elections, which were little more than a farce, took place 
Very quietly on the 26th, but less than 200,000 out of 500,000 
voters cast their ballots. Four days previously there was a riot 
and massacre of a considerable number of unoffending people. 
Attempts at reconciliation had been made by the Yersailles Gov- 
ernment, and from an unwillingness to shed blood, and an uncer- 
tainty in regard to the position of other cities, and the sympathies 
of the army in relation to the insurrection, M. Thiers had 
offered greater concessions than he ought ; but the insm*gents were 
not to be placated ; all overtures looking toward reconciliation 
were rejected, and even their own ultimatum repudiated. 

Troops from the departments were coming in, and the soldiers 
of the line, who had been prisoners of war, were returning, and 
were eager to put down the insurrection. The condition of the 
Government at Yersailles was daily improving, that of the many- 
headed despotism at the H6tel de Yille was constantly growing 
worse. 

On the evening before the election the " Committee of the Na- 
tional Guard " prepared, and early the next morning issued, two 
or three more proclamations, one of which declared that the Gov- 
ernment at Yersailles, after having betrayed Paris, was intent on 
betraying the Republic ; another promulgated the falsehood that 
the Due d'Aumale had been appointed Lieutenant-General of the 
kingdom. A third, gi'S'ing counsel to the voters, was more 
adroitly and carefully worded : in it the Committee stated that 
they were about to resign their functions into the hands of the 
newly elected council, and exhorted the citizens in the selection 



88 



PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUKE ; 



of representatives to distrust ambitious men, wlio advise the peo- 
ple only in their own interest — " those talkers who are unable to 
pass from words to acts, and who will sacrifice everything to 
speech, an oratorical effect, or a clever word," and " those whom 
fortune has too greatly favored." " Seek men " (the proclamation 
added) " with sincere convictions ; men of the people, resolute 
and active, who are well known for their sense of justice and 
honesty. Give your preference to those who do not canvass for 
your suffrages ; the only true merit is modesty ; it is for the 
electors to know their men, not for the candidates themselves to 
come forward." 

This was very good advice, but both those who gave it and those 
to whom it was given did not desire that it should be taken too 
litei-ally. While there was no considerable disturbance during 
the elections, there were not wanting insane men hke General 
LuUier, and restless and ambitious destructives like General Clu- 
seret, who went about haranguing the crowds, and endeavoring to 
stir them up to insurrection. 

' The elections, of course, resulted in large majorities for the Ked 
Republican leaders, who had hitherto kept in the background and 
controlled the ostensible Committee of Thirty, who, under one name 
or another, had had the reputation of governing. These leaders, 
Blanqui, Felix Pyat, Delescluze, Assi, Flourens, and Yermorel, 
were mostly elected, and on Tuesday, the 28th of March, " the Com- 
mune," as these leaders called their government, was proclaimed in 
the Place de I'Hotel de Yille, where a platform covered with red 
cloth had been erected, on ^which was placed a bust representing 
the Republic, wearing the Phrygian cap of liberty ornamented 
with red ribbon. Pound the platform and in the square, tricolor 
and red flags were hoisted. The members of the Communal 
Council delivered speeches, which nobody heard. The square, 
the Pue de Pivoli for a considerable distance, the adjoining 
quays, and the Boulevard de Sebastopol were crowded with Na- 




HATIONAL GUARDS ON THE STAIEWAY OP MAHS IN THE HOTEL DE VILLE. ■ 



OR, THE RED RKBELLION OF 1871. 41 

tional Guards, who several times in the course of the proceedings 
raised their caps in the air on the points of their bayonets, and 
uttered tremendous shouts of " Long live the Republic ! " Salvos 
of artillery were fired from a battery on the quay. In the evening 
the members of the Commune, 106 in number, assembled at the 
Hotel de Yille, and separated at midnight without having come 
to any understanding, in consequence of the violent character of 
some of the propositions advanced. A banquet was served them 
by lackeys in grand livery, and the splendid service of plate of 
the Hotel de Yille was brought out. The Commiine made a fur- 
ther requisition on the Bank of France, and obtained an advance 
to the amount of 500,000 francs. The Bank removed near to the 
Imperial priuting-oflice, with the view, it is believed, of facilitat- 
ing the issue of a paper currency. The Director-General of the 
Post-office declined to surrender his office on the demand of the 
Commune, and threatened, if removed, to send the mail wagons 
to Yersailles. The employes were placed under the surveillance 
of the Hotel de Yille. The red flag was hoisted on all the public 
buildings in Paris, and additional precautions were adopted 
against a surprise of the Commune from the direction of Yer- 
sailles. 

The programme of the " Commune," as laid down by its leaders, 
was : First, the compilation of a charter, such as in old times had 
been propounded by the fi-iends of freedom, which should guar- 
antee the municipal autonomy of Paris. Paris, it was further de- 
clared, should be federated with the communes of the other large 
towns of France by a treaty, which the National Assembly should 
be called upon to accept. If the Assembly accepted this, the 
" representatives of the national unity " should impose upon the 
Assembly the promulgation of an electoral law, " by which the 
representatives of the town shall not for the future be absorbed, 
and, as it were, drowned by the representatives of the country 
districts." 



42 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE 

Wliile ''the Commune" was thus preparing to seize the su- 
preme authority and rule all France in its anarchical way, as 
Paris had ruled it through the past, how did the other cities and 
departments stand affected toward the Thiers Government ? 
Were they ready to follow the lead of these Parisian anarchists ? 
The first reports seemed to threaten danger from these places, 
but subsequent accounts showed that the disturbance was com- 
paratively trifling. At Lyons the excitement was short, and 
order was completely re-established in a few hours. At Marseilles 
the Commune was proclaimed on the 25th, and the Prefect, 
Mayor, and local Commandant were made prisoners without 
bloodshed ; the city was declared in a state of siege, and business 
was at a stand-still. In a few days, however, order was restored 
and the power of the Government re-established. At St. Etienne 
the insurgents took possession of the Hotel de Yille on Friday 
night, but it was afterwards retaken by the authorities with the 
assistance of the National Guards, and the city was reported 
quiet. At Perpignan an attempt at a rising was made on Mon- 
day evening. The rioters kept the Colonel and Mayor in custody 
for a short time, but on perceiving the attitude of the great 
majority of the inhabitants, they released their prisoners and 
attempted to escape. The disturbance was at an end. At Tou- 
louse the Commune was proclaimed, but M. Thiers, in a circular 
to the prefects, stated that M. de Keratry, who had been stopped 
at Agen, entered Toulouse on Monday, and dispersed the revolu- 
tionary commune. Five hundred men, aided by the citizens, were 
said to have been suJfficient for the purpose of restoring order. 
Throughout the remainder of France there was no disturbance. 
" The Commune " at Paris was, meanwhile, carrying matters with 
a high hand. All prisoners, except those who had offended against 
the Commune, were set free ; the duty of assassinating all princes 
and kings was publicly proclaimed ; policemen were no longer to 
be employed, and the papers of the police office were burned, 




GUSTAVE FLOUREN& 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 45 

tliQS destroying the evidence against criminals of all sorts. It 
was directed tliat no one in any office in Paris sliould obey any 
instructions from Versailles. It was furthermore ordered that 
the rent for the last three quarters up to April should be wholly 
remitted. Whoever had paid any of tliese three quarters should 
have the right of setting that sum against future payments. The 
same law was to prevail in the case of furnished apartments, 
No notice to quit coming from landlords was to be valid for three 
months to come. Sales of pawned articles were suspended. It 
was forbidden to post notices on the walls of Paris emanating 
from Yersailles. . 

Conscription was abolished, but every able-bodied citizen was 
ordered to enter the Guard ; the title of Commander-in-Chief 
was prohibited, and the red flag of the Universal Republic was 
made the flag of the Commune. Eudes, an adventurer who had 
been tlie leader of a riot at La Yillette in August, 1870, was ap- 
pointed Delegate Minister of War ; Bergeret, a printer of the city, 
Chief of Staff ; and Duval, whose previous employment had been 
that of chief claqxieur at the theatres. Military Commander, Pre- 
fect of Police, and Judge, Duval and Bergeret were to organize 
immediately twenty-five battalions of infantry and fifteen 
mitrailleuse batteries for active service, and twenty batteries of 
reserve artillery. They were empowered for this purpose to make 
all needful requisitions. The Bank of France was "persuaded' 
to make the necessary advances, and a number of ofiicials in the 
Department of Finance were dismissed for disobedience. 

The Sub-Central Committee appointed from the Communal 
Council of 106 elected on the 26th, seemed to be full of busi- 
ness, and found it necessary to delegate some of its duties to an 
Executive Committee, composed of Duval, Bergeret, Eudes, Pyat, 
and Yaillant, A part of their Avork consisted in imprisoning and 
condemning to death all who were not of their way of thinking and 
acting. Two of the members of the Committee itself were thrown 



4:6 PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUNE; 

into prison, and another condemned to death as a BonapartisL 
Wilfrid Fonvielle, a brother of Ulric Fonvielle, the companion 
of "Victor IsToir in his fatal visit to Pierre Bonaparte a year before, 
was sentenced to death on suspicion of an attempt to aid his 
brother in organizing a body of loyal guards at St. Germain. 
Death was denounced by these men against all who would not 
declare their adherence to the " Commune." The Postal Director 
was summoned to surrender his functions to an appointee of the 
Commune, but refused, and the affair resulted In the total dis- 
organization of the service. The judicial benches were deserted, 
all the judges having fled. A general exodus of the wealthier 
people of the city began. The workshops were closed, the opera- 
tives being engaged in the more important business of playing at 
National Guards and governing Paris. 

But both the Executive Committee and the Sub-Central Com- 
mittee found their duties too onerous, and on the 30th of March 
surrendered them to the Commune, and the Communal Council 
selected and appointed a new Executive Committee, consisting of 
Gustave Flourens, Pyat, Eudes, Delescluze, and several other 
members of the Council who had no previous notoriety.' 



OR, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 47 



CHAPTEE III. 

The Ad^itntstration of the Commune in April, — Its Constant 
Changes. — Its Horrible Doctrines, Gross Cruelties, and 
Utter Corruption. 

The government at Yersailles was fast regaining its confidence 
and power. Day after day new bodies of troops came in, either 
the National Gnards from the provinces, who were not infected 
with Commnnism, or, better still, the soldiers of the regular 
army now returning from Germany, where they had been detained 
as prisoners of war. President Thiers was, however, disposed to 
be cautious in his movements ; the failure of the attempt on 
Montmartre had shown him that National Guards were but a 
poor dependence, and knowing the fickleness of Frenchmen, and 
their liability to be influenced by various motives, he preferred 
to temporize with themj and to make use of the means at his 
command for bringing them to a reconciliation without further 
bloodshed. His government had nothing to lose by this delay, 
while it was likely to prove fatal to the insurgents. As we shall 
see by and by, too, he knew his countrymen so well that he had 
strong f aitli in his power of corrupting the leaders of the insur- 
rection, and procuring, by means of money, a victory which, 
if less honorable, would be also less destructive than one won in 
the battle-field. Meantime he neglected no measures vsdthin his 
power for crippling the strength of the insurgents. He had 
inflicted a very severe blow upon them by the arrest and confine- 
ment in the prison at Figeac of their master-spirit, Blanqui, 
which he effected on the 19th of March, and he had assured 
himself of the loyalty of the troops who still held Fort Mont 



48 PAKIS UNDER THE COMMTXPTE J 

Valenen, the strongest of the suburban fortresses of Paris, and 
the one which guarded the only possible route from Paris to 
Versailles. 

The insurgents had expected that the Yersailles Government 
would renew the fight at once, and were puzzled by the delay. 
At length they came to the conclusion that it was prompted by 
fear of their prowess, and they resoh^ed to march at once to 
Yersailles, and demand that Blanqui should be released, or they 
would put the Assembly to death at once. Some of the leaders 
were in favor of breaking up " the insurgent government," as they 
called it, whatever conditions they might offer. In this march 
they must, as we have said, pass Fort Mont Yalerien, but as they 
had not yet been fired upon by it, and the garrison treated them 
with apparent indifference, they concluded, without evidence, 
that they were really their friends. The movement began on 
Sunday, April 2d, with the sending some battalions of National 
Guards (the Commune's troops) to occupy Courbevoie and 
Puteaux, suburban villages to the northeast of Fort Mont Yale- 
rien, but near enough to be raked by its fire ; but as the com- 
mandant did not fire upon them, their belief in his friendliness 
was confirmed. General Yinoy, on being informed of this 
advance of the insurgents, sent a division from the army of Yer- 
sailles to meet them. 

A captain of gendarmerie (police), who was sent forward with 
a flag of truce, was fired upon by the Communists and killed, 
and their skirmishers also began to fire upon the patrols and 
vedettes of the Yersailles army. An artillery fire was then 
opened by the Government troops upon the National Guards, 
who, after a brief engagement, werg completely routed, and 
retired in disorder across the bridge of Neuilly, across the Seine, 
into Paris. 

The news of this defeat caused great excitement in Paris, and 
not a little anxiety at the Hotel de Yille, the Communist Com- 




ARREST OF THE ARCHBISHOP BY THE POMAIUNISTS. 




THE FIGHT AT COUBBEVOIB. 



OK, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 51 

mittee not knowing what might be the intentions of the military 
chiefs at Yei-sailles. Preparations were immediately made for 
renewing the fight next day. Camps were improvised in the 
open spaces within the city, and towards dawn on Monday morn- 
ing, the 3d instant, the Communist forces again advanced from 
the city to the number of about 100,000, in three columns, the 
left marching by Chatillon, south of Paris, the right by Neuilly 
and Clichy, northwest of the city, and the centre by the Point du 
Jour, southwest, on the direct road to Versailles. They were 
commanded by General Bergeret, a printer, and perfectly desti- 
tute of military knowledge ; General Duval, late a claqueur (hired 
applauder) at the Theatre Beaumarchais, and General Flourens 
was left at Neuilly with a reserve. The three columns were to 
converge upon Versailles, the object of attack. Under the 
impression that Mont Valerien would not fire upon them, they 
advanced close up under the guns of the fort, and when the com- 
mandant, who left them undeceived as long as possible, and 
allowed a large number to march by unmolested to N^anterre and 
Eeuil, west and northwest of the fortress, at last opened fire, the ' 
National Guards were taken by surprise and thrown into utter 
confusion. A large number returned to Paris, crying out that 
they were betrayed ! This retreat began before eight o'clock, 
and continued some hours. The rappel was beaten to collect 
reinforcements, but was little responded to. Meantime, those 
who had passed beyond Valerien found their retreat unexpect- 
edly cut off by the fire of its guns. General Flourens, who went 
to the rescue, was killed early in the fight, and General Duval 
about the same time. The left wing of the insurgents, which 
was massed before and around the forts of Issy and VanAo-es, 
made the most stubborn fight, as it appears that at this point the 
contest lasted nearly all day, but the Government troops were 
ultimately victorious. The right wing, under Bergeret, was cut 
in two by the fire of Fort Mont Valerien, and that portion of it 



52 PAKIS UNDER THE COMMUNE; 

which had passed beyond the fort to Nanterre and Reuil, about 
15,000 in number, were taken prisoners. The losses of the left 
wing in the vicinity of Chatillon and Meudon were very heavy, 
two thousand under General Henry being captured, and in the 
whole battle four or five thousand slain. On Tuesday, April 4th, 
Yinoy again attacked such of the insurgent troops as were out- 
side of the fortifications, driving Bergeret and the remnant of 
his command northward toward Colombes and Gennevilliers, and 
routing them with heavy loss. 

During these three days of fighting, the Government troops 
showed none of that sympathy with the insurgents which Presi- 
dent Thiers had feared and the Commune had hoped for. 
They cursed and ridiculed the prisoners, exhibiting no compas- 
sion even for the badly wounded, and whenever a man was found 
among them wearing the uniform of the regular army he was 
immediately shot down as a traitor. On Tuesday night the in- 
surgents were driven out of Chatillon (south of Paris), and on 
Wednesday tried in vain to retake it, but were repulsed with 
considerable loss. They occupied the forts of Issy and Yanvres, 
and from these fired with considerable effect upon the Govern- 
ment troops. 

On the night of "Wednesday, the 5th, the Parisians made an 
attack on the bridge of Sevres, on the Seine, southwest of Paris, 
held by a detachment of the Yersailles army, but were repulsed. 
On the following day considerable cannonading took place be- 
tween the southern forts, Montrouge, Ivry, Bicetre, and Charen- 
ton, and batteries erected by the Government troops at Chatillon, 
and positions farther east. The Government forces also made a 
vigorous assault on the insurgents at Courbevoie and Neuilly, and, 
aided by the fire of Fort Mont Yal^rien, pressed them back 
towards the Seine, at the same time bafiling the attempts of Ber- 
geret's troops to pierce their lines and return to Paris. 

On Friday, the Tth, fighting was resumed by the Yersailles 




GENERAL DOMBROWSKI. 



OR, THE KED KEBELLTON OF 1871. 55 

army at Neuilly, northwest of the city, with renewed vigor. The 
insurgents were forced to retire behind the bridge over the 
Seine, which is here very wide, which they barricaded. The 
assailants then shelled and demolished the barricades, inflicting 
heavy loss on the defenders, and throwing them into temporary 
disorder. The latter succeeded, however, in extricating their 
cannon, and took up sheltered positions on the east bank of the 
Seine. After an artillery duel from the opposite banks, the Ver- 
sailles troops pushed across the bridge, and, in spite of new barri- 
cades erected in their way on the Neuilly avenue, and a brisk fire 
from the guns of the Paris ramparts, ultimately drove the insur- 
gents out of the suburb and compelled them to retreat to the 
foot of the enceinte, or city ramparts. The Yersailles Govern- 
ment states the loss of the Parisians to have been immense, but 
admits that its own was serious, and names three of its generals 
among the killed and wounded. The chief command was held 
by Marshal MacMahon, and the whole army of investment was 
divided into four corps, of which one was in reserve, under Gen- 
eral Yinoy. Who commanded the insurgents in the engagements 
of the 6th and 7th, is not stated. Subsequently, however, we find 
a Pole, Jaroslas Dombrowski, " appointed to succeed General 
Bergeret in command of the National Guard," the latter hav- 
ing been " arrested for military failure and insubordination." 

On Saturday, the 8th, Fort Mont Yalerien and the advanced 
batteries of the Yersailles army began the bombardment of the 
Maillot Gate, of the enceinte, between Neuilly and the Arc de 
I'Etoile, their shells falling beyond the latter, in the Champs 
Elysees. The cannonade was continued throughout the day, dur- 
ing the night, and also all Sunday, brisk firing being simulta- 
neously kept up between the southern forts and the positions 
opposite them. Everywhere the Government troops gained 
ground. They advanced almost to the enceinte, occupying 
Boulogne, Sablonville, and Longchamps. The drawbridge and 



56 PAEIS UNDER THE COMMTHSTE ; 

floor of the Maillot Gate were broken. The Nationals momen- 
tarily evacuated the Champs Elysees, seeking shelter in the adja- 
cent streets. Subsequently, however, they reinforced their artil- 
lery at the Maillot Gate, as well as at the adjoining Porte des 
Ternes, and threw up huge barricades in the Champs El^'sees, 
the Place de la Concorde, and their environs, opened a cannonade 
upon Courbevoie and Puteaux, and made some desperate sorties 
to the south and southwest. The southern parts of the city were, 
even on Monday, the 10th, so much annoyed by the bombardment 
directed against Forts Montrouge, Issy, and Yanvres, that an elec- 
tion appointed for that day, to fill vacancies in the Commune, 
had to be postponed. At the western gates, however, the fire 
slackened on Monday, and the Versailles troops fell back to some 
distance, MacMahon determining to make the main attack on the 
city from the southwest, with the co-operation of a flotilla of 
iron-clad gunboats on the Seine. On the 11th of April the insur- 
gents were in possession of Asni^res, near Courbevoie, on the 
west bank of the river, northwest of the city. 

While this severe but not wholly decisive fighting was in pro- 
gress, and for a week or two subsequent, the " Commune " was 
indulging itself in a reign of terror which, in the atrocity of its 
horrors, surpassed the ever-memorable infamies of the epoch of 
the First Revolution. Blanqui was not released by the Yersailles 
Government. Assi, the representative of the International Associ- 
ation of Workingmen, had fallen under the ban of his colleagues 
of the Commune as not radical enough, and with Gambon and 
Bergeret, poor fellow, who tried to be a general when he was 
only a printer, was thrown into the Mazas prison. Twenty-two 
other members of the Commune, out of one hundred and six in all, 
had been driven to resign, as not sufficiently advanced in their ideas. 
Gustave Cluseret, a French adventurer, dishonored and degraded 
from the army some years before, and for a time, with a horde 
of other adventurers, foisted upon our army in our ciril war ; 




GENERAL OLTTSEBET. 



OR, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. ^0 

subsequently the editor of an abusive sheet in New York and in 
Paris, a malcontent promoting insurrection in the Fi*anco-Ger- 
man war, now seized control, and as Minister of War, proceeded 
to issue decrees which were simply fiendish in their character. 
Take the following specimen from the Journal Officiel (the organ 
of the Commune) of April 5 (we omit the preambles) : — 

The Commune of Paris Decrees : 

Article I. — Every person suspected of complicity with the Government 
of Versailles shall be immediately brought up for examination and impris- 
onment. 

Art. n. — A Jury of Accusation will be organized within twenty-four 
hours, to take cognizance of the crimes which are referred to them. 

Art. m. — The jury -will remain in session forty-eight hours. 

Art. IV. — All the accused retained in consequence of the verdict of the 
Jury of Accusation shall be the hostages of the people of Paris. 

Art. V. — Every execution of a prisoner of war (i. e. by the Versailles 
Government or its army), or of a partisan of the regular government of the 
Commune of Paris, shall be, upon the spot, followed by the execution of 
three times the number of the hostages retained in virtue of Art. IV. ; and 
these shall be designated by lot. 

Art. VI. — ^Every prisoner of war shall be brought before the Jury of 
Accusation, who will decide whether he shall be immediately set at liberty 
or retained as a hostage. 

Under these infamous decrees many thousands of the best citi- 
zens of Paris were arrested and imprisoned, and those who could 
do so made haste to escape from the city, 120,000 leaving within 
the next three days. The malignity of the Communist leaders 
seemed specially directed against the clergy, who did not sympa- 
thize with their doctrines or practices. The venerable Archbishop 
of Paris, a man greatly beloved for his kindness to the poor and 
suffering, and who had during the siege labored incessantly for 
the sick and wounded National Guards and soldiers, was arrested 
under these decrees on the 6th of April, with his sister and about 
seventy priests, the most prominent in the city. The nuns of the 



QO PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

different convents and the Sisters of Charity were sent to the 
prisons, and no position or station in society, high or low, was safe 
from suspicion, which led to instant incarceration, and very often 
to foul murder. The houses of " aristocrats " and churches were 
pillaged. All men between the ages of seventeen and thirty- 
five, then all unmarried citizens, and finally all between nineteen 
and forty were called under arms, and domiciliary search was 
made for the fugitives. The " International Aid Society for the 
Care of the Wounded," an International Sanitary Commission, 
which during the war had accomplished a vast amount of good, 
and was now, with its ambulances, its field hospitals, its surgeons, 
nurses, and attendants, bestowing its tender care on the wounded 
in the battles which had already taken place, and making god 
the notorious deficiency in the medical service of the Communal 
Army, was dissolved by Cluseret's order; its stores of wine, 
brandies, medicines, and food seized and turned over to the Com- 
mune, its funds confiscated, and its surgeons and nurses insulted 
and imprisoned. Each day witnessed some new outrage on prop- 
erty, life, or morals ; and growing bolder with each hour's impu- 
nity, they speedily evolved the cardinal articles of their creed, 
which were neither more nor less than these : The total denial of 
the existence of God and of a future life, the prevention of any 
religious observances, and the treatment of priests and ministers 
as impostors ; the abolition of marriage, and the substitution of 
temporary connections, based on the inclination of either of the 
parties ; tiie rearing and education of children by the Commune 
as in a vast foundling hospital ; the outlawry of all persons not 
living by the labor of their hands, or, in other words, the creation 
of an aristocracy of ouvriers ; the expulsion of the literary or 
educated class from all places of trust or dignity ; the substitu- 
tion of " natural justice " in the courts of law for all artificial 
systems of jurisprudence; the appropriation of all property to 
public use, and the provision of labor for all persons able to labor, 



OE, THE BED REBELLION OF 1871. 61 

and support for those wlio vrero not able, out of the public purse. 
Is it possible to conceive of any state of society which would 
more nearly resemble pandemonium than one thus organized ? 

Will it be credited that this infamous monster Cluseret, while 
thus setting all law and order, human and divine, at defiance, 
was all the time endeavoring to negotiate with M. Thiers' agents 
for the betrayal of Paris to the "Versailles Government ! 

Marshal MacMalion, who, on his return from Germany, had 
been assigned to the chief command of the Government army, 
took the field on Monday, April 10,* and found that the troops of. 
the Commune were pushing out on the northwest of the city to> 
Asnieres, Neuilly, and even their advances as far as ColombeSy, 
with the view of operating against the left flank of his army. He- 
directed his main attention to these points, and to the relief of a 
small detachment of his troops who were on the island of Grand 
Jatte, in the Seine, opposite jS"euilly, which the insurgents were 
trying to drive back toward Fort Mont Yalerien. At the same 
time he maintained his position at Chatillon, and thus held a con- 
siderable portion of the troops of the Commune at the south of 
the city. His special efforts were directed, so far as immediate 
aggressive warfare was concerned, to driving back the Communal 
troops from Keuilly inside the ramparts, and thus gaining the op- 
portunity of bombarding and breaching the Porte de Maillot (the 
Maillot gate) into the city, the weakest and most exposed point 
of its western defences. The western and southern sides of Paris 
were much stronger than the northern and eastern, as the Ger- 
mans had found to their cost ; but the necessity of protecting 
Yersailles and the Assembly made it impossible for MacMahon to 
attack elsewhere, and so stubborn was the resistance he met with 
that he deemed it best to content himself with holding his position 
and repelling advances until the reinforcements, now hastening to 
his assistance, could be brought up* 

The record of the next eight or ten days, then, was one of con- 



62 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

tinnous but not very vigorous fighting, and without material re- 
sult. The Communist troops did not wholly abandon Asnieres, 
though they drew back from Colombes ; they did not evacuate 
Neuilly, but they could not drive the Government troops from the 
island of Grand Jatte, and whenever they attempted to move for- 
ward the heavy guns of Fort Mont Yalerien were trained on 
them with such effect that they recoiled. On the south of the 
•city the Government troops held Chatillon firmly, and though 
Forts Issy and Yanvres, manned by the Communists, bombarded 
it almost constantly, they mad'e very little impression and rarely 
'elicited any reply. Cluseret claimed victories for the Commu- 
nists, but even his own troops did not believe his proclamations. 
MacMahon boasted of no victories, but claimed what was true — 
that he was holding his own. 

This state of things was improved on both sides by overtures 
for compromise, publicly made, and by Cluseret by private offers 
of surrender on the payment of 2,500,000 francs to him person- 
ally. All negotiations, however, failed. President Thiers was 
willing to concede to the Parisians an elective self-govern- 
ment, subject, however, to the general government of France, 
:and even, to allow the IS'ational Guards to be the sole defenders 
and military force of the city, — a very unwise concession, — but he 
would not in any way recognize the Commune or its leaders. 
These, on their side, demanded recognition, and refused to be 
satisfied with his concessions, their appetite growing with what it 
fed upon. Cluseret's private offer was rejected, probably from 
the conviction that he could not make the delivery which he 
promised. 

After the lamented failure of the valiant printer-general, Berge- 
ret, a Polish adventurer, Jaroslas Dombrowski, who had been suc- 
cessively a Kussian subaltern, a leader in a gang of counterfeiters, a 
prisoner sentenced to the Ural mines, a Russian police pimp, and a 
Prussian spy, was promoted to the chief command of the Com- 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 



65 



immist forces, and, though subsequently deprived of this position, 
managed to retain a prominent phice till the downfall of the 
Connnune. 

Under his direction the Communists had erected considerable 
defensive works at Asnieres, consisting mainly of huge barri- 
cades, on which they had mounted mitrailleuses. These worlvs 
were destined mainly to cover the various approaches to the 
bridge o\er the Seine, which they held. Having no cavalry, how- 
ever, the insurgents could not reconnoitre, and were ignorant of 
the fact that MacMahon's troops had erected heavy batteries 
against them at Gennevilliers and Colombes, north and northwest 
of Asnieres. These opened suddenly a terrible fire upon their 
right flank and front on the 18th, while two attacking colunms 
advanced against their positions. The Parisians answered the 
cross-fire only by one volley from their mitrailleuses, and soon 
began a hasty retreat across the Seine. General Dombrowski 



1 „^, J j-1- 




BTJENING THE GUILLOTINE IN TPTE PLACE VOLTAIRE. 



66 



PAEIS TJNDEE THE COMMTHSTE ; 



in regard to the western defences of the city, they now turned 
their chief attention to the southern defences of it, and especially 
against the Forts Issy, Yanvres, and Montrouge, which had suf- 
fered so severely from the Prussian fire during the siege, but had 
since been repaired. A furious bombardment was opened against 
them on Wednesday, April 26, and continued throughout the 
night, with particular damage to Fort Issy. The barracks of 
this fort were destroyed, its fire silenced, and a breach made in 
the walls. On the morning of the 2Tth, Les Moulineaux, a vil- 
lage in its close vicinity, which offered an important new position, 
was carried by the assailants. In the night of the 29th they car- 
ried a park and several buildings situated but a few hundred 
paces from the intrenchments, whereupon the defenders of the 
fort, half of whose guns were dismounted, were seized with a 
sudden panic, mutinied, and most of them fled. Cluseret, in the 
morning, hastened to the front, and succeeded in having the fort 
reoccupied by fresh troops, under command of General La Cecilia, 
an Italian adventurer whom he had brought into the service. The 
new garrison, exposed to a raking fire, was strongly disposed to 
capitulate, but was prevented from doing so by some of its more 
zealous officers, and by the failure of a plot for its betrayal by 
some of the worthless adventurers placed in important commands 
by the leaders of the Commune. 

Meanwhile Cluseret' s race was run : the Executive Committee 
of the Commune, dissatisfied with his grand promises and his 
meagre performance, terror-stricken at the peril in which their 
southern defences were placed, and very possibly informed of the 
attempts he had been making to sell out the city tO the Yersail- 
lists (though almost any of them would have done the same), re- 
moved him from office, but did not imprison him, as they did at 
this time Assi, the representative of the International Society, 
who had once before fallen under their displeasure, and Eaoul 
Kigault, their late delegate for Public Safety, or Chief of Po- 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 67 

lice, who was suspected, perhaps unjustly, of treachery. General 
Rossel, another adventurer, but, like Cluseret, of French birth, 
succeeded to the Ministry of War, but held it for only ten days — 
long enough, however, to attempt to sell Forts Issy and Yanvres 
to the Versailles government, making the atrocious proposition to 
give up twelve or fourteen thousand of the Communist troops to 
be butchered, without means of defence, if only he might receive 
a million of francs for his treachery. 

At the end of April, then, the Versailles army had made ma- 
terial progress, and could look forward hopefully to more. They 
had not yet entered Paris, nor was that doomed city quite 
surfeited by the experiences it had had of the rule of rep- 
robates who still held sway, but there was room for hope that 
under their vigorous blows the rule of the mob would soon come 
to an end. This hope was realized, but at a most fearful cost. 
5 



68 FARIS UNDEK THE COMMHEIB; 



CHAPTER lY. 

A BRIEF armistice occurred on ttie 1st and 2d of May, during 
negotiations for the surrender of Fort d'Issy; but these nego- 
tiations failing, in consequence of the unwillingness of Mac- 
Mahon to pay a large sum to those who were willing to betray a 
fort which it was evident must soon be liis at only the cost of a 
little longer bombardment, the bombardment was renewed on the 
3d, and extensive batteries erected at Gennevilliers, on the north- 
west of the city, soon made Neuilly and the Maillot Gate unten- 
able for the Communists, who were driven back into the city. 
The whole north-west, west, and south-west sides, and most of the 
south side of the city were invested by a line of heavy batteries, 
which were fast making breaches in the walls, and making havoc 
, with the dwellings and public buildings in those sections of the 
city. On the morning of May 9th Fort d'Issy was captured, a 
considerable portion of its garrison escaping by way of the cata- 
combs, where considerable numbers perished miserably. Fort 
Vanvres held out for a few days longer, and meanwhile a severe 
bombardment of Auteuil and Point du Jour, from the batteries of 
Montretout and Brimborion, was maintained, which told with 
frightful effect on the ramparts and on the dwellings of the west 
side of Paris. 

It had become evident by this time to reflecting men, both in 
and out of the city, that the Commmie had but a very brief exist- 
ence before it ; that in two or three weeks at the farthest the 
city must be in the hands of the Versailles troops, and that those 
who had been the leaders in this insurrection, and many of those 
who had participated in it, must escape or lose their heads. The 



OK, THE BED KEBEELION OF 1871. 71 

leaders themselves, however, would not acknowledge any appre- 
hension. They were gaining victories every day, and intemper- 
ance, debauchery, licentiousness, and murder ran riot in the city 
as they had done hitherto. Never had vice of all descriptions 
been so bold and unblushing as it was now. Scenes were hourly 
enacted which would have brought a blush to the face of the 
lowest Hottentot. The women of the ouvriere class, as well as 
those more openly lost to shame, took part in the military move- 
ments, and mingled everywhere with the National Guards ; and 
though they did not encourage them in genuine acts of bravery, 
they made them more insubordinate and restless, and more 
demonlike in their conduct. The National Guards were, in fact, 
becoming almost worthless as troops ; they would not obey their 
officers, erected barricades wherever they chose, without any ref- 
erence to their availability for purposes of defence, and, while 
constantly clamoring for reinforcements, they would run from the 
points they were set to defend, upon the slightest symptoms of a 
close or severe action. 

After the fall of Fort d'Issy, General Rossel, whose efforts to 
sell the city to M. Thiers for a large sum, to be paid to him in 
person, had failed of success, sent a communication to the Com- 
mune tendering his resignation as commander-in-chief of the 
insurgent forces. In this communication he said: "I cannot 
endure to hold the responsibility where everybody deliberates, 
where nobody obeys orders, where nothing is organized, and 
where the guns depend for service upon a few volunteers." In 
continuation, he complained that reinforcements had not been 
granted him when urgently needed ; and that, in point of fact, 
the Commune was incapable of the discharge of the duties per- 
taining to it. He therefore retired from its service. The docu- 
ment concluded as follows: "Two courses were open to our 
forces, \\z. : to break through the obstacles which environ Paris, 
or to retire. The former has been found to be impossible, and 



72 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE : 



J, 



therefore we have retired. I have the honor to ask of you a cell 
in the Mazas prison." 

His request was granted'; but the Mazas prison having not so 
many charms for him as he had anticipated, he made his escape 
from the prison, was active in a subordinate capacity for a week 
or two, and finally was arrested, a month later, by the Yersailles 
authorities. 

The old Committee of Public Safety, which had preceded the 
Commune, and most of whose members were not elected as 
members of the Commune, still maintained its existence and 
attempted to exercise its authority. On the occasion of Eossel's 
resignation, as on many previous ones, there was a very violent 
collision between the two sources of authority, and the severest 
recriminations occurred between the members, each party know- 
ing altogether too much of the other to make their discussions 
pleasant. In the end, Delescluze, who seems to have been from 
this time the ruling spirit of the Commune, triumphed over the 
conspirators of the Committee of Public Safety, and insisted 
on their resignation under penalty of their immediate arrest and 
execution if they refused. With an infatuation which seems 
almost incredible, the Commune and its leaders now assumed 
that they were on the high road to a complete victory over the 
Versailles troops, and issued orders to their army to take the most 
relentless measures towards the besiegers. "ISTo soldier," says 
this order, " will be allowed to depart in the slightest degree 
from his duty, and all the troops are forbidden to cease firing 
upon the Versailles troops who may attempt to surrender ; while 
fugitives and stragglers are to be sabred when caught, or, if they 
are in numerous bodies, are to be fired into mercilessly with can- 
non and mitrailleuses." 

The "Column of July" in the Place Vendome, erected by 
Napoleon I. in commemoration of his victories, for the bronze of 
which twelve hundred captured cannon were melted, and which 




A BARRICADE. 



OK, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 



75 



was crowned with a colossal statue of himself, — a column justly 
regaided as one of the finest art-treasures of Paris, — was doomed 
to destruction by these Yandals, and Courbet, an artist from the 
pro^•inces, volunteered to superintend the work of overthrowing 
it On '-.he 15th of May it was to be pulled down, but through a 
failure o^ the machinery provided by Courbet, it was not de- 
stroyed tiL the next day. 

On the Ikh of May Fort Yanvi-es was captured and Fort Mont- 
rouge isolated ; the Auteuil gate, on the west side, was entirely 
destroyed, and the ramparts so badly breached as to give hope of 
an entrance in\o the city by the Versailles troops in a very short 
time. 

Inside the city, quarrels were stili raging between the Commit- 
tee of Public Safety and the Commune, and each demanded the 
execution of the other. M. Thiers' residence — one of the finest 
buildings in Paris, and containing a vast collection of choice 
bronzes, statues, antiques, paintings, and costly furniture, and a 
fine hbrary — was ordered to be destroyed, and all its valuables 
confiscated, and the order was speedily carried into effect. Deles- 
cluze, though still retailing the chief power, tired of the position 
of Minister of War, and Billioray took his place. J^ew Polish 
oflicers were called to important commands — dancing-masters and 
adventurers of all sorts, without reference to their previous his- 
toiy and antecedents — and vhe Commune grew more and more 
cruel and bloodthirsty with each day, as its power began to totter 
to its fall. Quiet citizens who had remained in Paris, but had 
taken no part in the insurrection, were arrested by scores and 
hundi-eds, thi-own into prison, aLd retained as hostages against the 
Yersailles Government, and many of them put to death. The 
churches were plundered, and the plate, money, and statues and 
images they contained used for the pm-poses of the Commune. 
The Committee of Public Safety still refused to disband, and set 
free those whom the Commune imprisoned, and ai:^*ested those 



76- 



PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUNE 



who were discharged by it, Bergeret, Cluseret, and several ether 
prominent men who had been thrown into prison were thus 
released, and took part in the fighting. Large bodies of vomen 
were organized and armed to arrest and pnnish deserters and 
stragglers, who were becoming very numerous. The/ proved 
more cruel and severe than the men. Women were alsj assigned 
to other duties by the Committee of Public Safety a' the Com- 
mune. Among these was that of setting on fire publ:c buildings, 
which now began to be one of the contemplated aiausements of 
the black-hearted villains who still held the reins of power in 
Paris. 

Other high-handed measures adopted were tie demolition of 
churches ; the turning of the Sisters of Mercy out of their con- 
vents ; the compelling of the non-combatants, whom they had 
seized and imprisoned as hostages, to serve at the barricades, and 
when the fire was so fierce that these unarmed men could not 
longer remain there, marching them back to their prisons and 
shooting them down in cold blood ; the fuppression of all the 
moderate journals, and the menacing their editors with death, 
and the deliberate murder of some of tham by the orders of that 
incarnate fiend, Raoul Pigault. 

The last attempts of the Commune at resuming the offensive, 
outside of the walls, were made on tte 16th and lYth, by Dom- 
browski's command, at ISTeuilly, and ended in failures. Batteries 
at Montmartre vainly bombarded at the same time the position 
of the Yersailles troops at Chateau -Becon, On the evening of 
the 17th a powder-magazine exploded with terrible effect inside 
of the western enceinte, spreading havoc and consternation all 
around. Further south, fierce cannonading was kept up by the 
besiegers against the gates of Auteuil and St. Cloud, and from 
their new positions at Issy against Point du Jour and GreneUe. 
On Thursday the 18th the two insurgent positions near Fort 
Montrouge svere carried at the point of the bayonet, but subse- 



OK, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 77 

qnently abandoned. Some desultory fighting, with varying suc- 
cess, also took place on the two following days. The battering 
fire was renewed with the utmost vigor on the night of Saturday 
the 20th, and continued until immense breaches were efPected in 
the ramj^arts, which the defenders on Sunday gradually began to 
abandon, re-entering the city in the greatest disorder. In the 
afternoon, the Government troops finally entered the capital; 
General Douai marching in fi-om the southwest, by the battered- 
down St. Cloud Gate, at the Point du Jour, and General Cissey 
from the south, by the Gate of Montrouge ; the latter having 
shortly before occupied the positions at Petit Yanvres and Mala- 
koff, and Fort Montrouge, without a struggle. On the two 
extremes of the field alone, in fi-ont of Batignolles on the north- 
west, and between Gentilly and Ivry on the south-east. Generals 
Dombrowski and Wroblewski endeavored for a time to continue 
the contest outside of the enceinte. 

On Monday morning. May 22, Dombrowski still made two 
assaults on the left wing of the Yersailles forces, but his ranks 
were broken, and he himself wounded, and finally a panic seized 
his men, which was communicated to various detachments in the 
rear. All fled in wild confusion. The Government troops now ' 
advanced from every quarter. General Clinehant fi-om the side of 
Clichy, Douai and L'Admirault along "the Seine, Cissey from the 
south. There was hardly any resistance. The huge barricades 
of the Avenue des Champs Elysees and the Place de la Concorde 
were speedily abandoned ; others but feebly replied to the guns of 
the assailants ; the insurgents retreated towards Montmartre, hard 
pressed by Clinehant and L'Admirault ; Cissey and Douai in the 
meanwhile occupying the southern and central portions of the 
city. In the evening General Clinehant occupied Batignolles, 
and on Tuesday morning attacked Montmartre, the main strong- 
hold of the insurrection, fi-om the Avenue de Clichy on the west, 
and the Boulevard de Clichy on the south ; while General L'Ad- 



78 PAEI8 UNDER THE COMMUNE : 



mirault attacked it from the southeast, having carried the forti- 
fied Northern Railway station by assault. Early in the after- 
noon Montmartre was in the hands of the Government troops. 

In the afternoon of the 23d, shortly after the capture of Mont- 
martre, General Yinoy occupied the Ministry of War ; Clinchant 
moved by the Rue de Clichy on the N^ew Opera House, anc 
L'Admirault's troops held the stations of the Northern and East- 
ern Railroads. The insurgents, however, continued to defend 
their main central positions on both sides of the Seine, including 
the Place Yendome, the Tuileries, the Prefecture of Police, and 
the Hotel de Yille. Their batteries on the Boulevard Hauss- 
mann, the Place Yendome, and in the garden of the Tuileries, still 
presented a formidable front towards the west and north-west ; but 
their right and rear were threatened by the flanking movements 
of General L'Admirault, against which they were not sufficiently 
guarded. This seems to have chiefly compelled their retreat in 
the night, or on the following morning. May 24, towards the east- 
ern faubourgs, the beginning of which was accompanied by the 
setting on fire of the Tuileries and Louvre, and of the Palaces of 
the Legion of Honor and of the Council of State, on the opposite 
bank of the river. The conflagration was exceedingly violent, so 
that of the four palaces only a portion of the Louvre could be 
saved, including its main treasure, the collection of art, while its 
library became a prey to the flames. But this act of vandalism 
was not to be the foulest stain on the memory of the Commune, 
for, in the same night, scores of so-called hostages were slain by 
its executioners in their prison, and among them Monseigneur 
Darboy the Archbishop of Paris, the Abbes Susa and Duguerry, 
sixteen other priests, and forty-four other hostages, mostly officers 
of the gendarmes, or police, and the noted Mexican banker, 
Jecker. Nearly a hundred more of these hostages — ^forty or fifty 
priests among them — ^made barricades in their prison and fought 
for their lives. The National Guard, by Eaoul Eigault's order. 




LATE AKCHBISHOP DABBOY. 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 81 

tried to burn them alive, but tliey were at almost the last moment 
rescued by the Versailles troops. By orders of Dclescluze and 
Billioray, hundreds of men and women were passing through all 
the principal streets carrying concealed bottles and hand-gre- 
nades of petroleum, which they threw into the areas of dwellings 
and followed with lighted matches, thus setting them on fire so 
completely that very few of the buildings were saved. Others, in 
the garb of firemen, under pretence of extinguishing the fiames, 
threw petroleum on them from their engines, and as the insur- 
gents retreated they threw from their cannon bomb-shells charged 
with the same inflammable fluid upon all the streets where they 
would do most mischief. 

The Place Yendome w^as occupied on Wednesday morning ; 
the insurgents made a strong stand at the Rue St. Honore, and, 
on retiring, fired the Palais Eoyal ; the Palace of Finance, the 
Barracks on the Quai d'Orsay, the Court of Accounts, the Pre- 
fecture of Police, and the Mont de Piete blazing up about the 
same time vnth petroleum. The burning of this last building was 
one of the most atrocious acts of these incendiaries. The Mont 
de Piete was the Government Pawner's Bank, receiving its de- 
posits by hundreds of thousands of articles from the poor, advanc- 
ing on them three-fourths of their just valuation, and charging 
but five per cent, interest. It was said that at this very time it 
held in pledge not less than Y50,000 articles, many of them 
deposited by these very ouvriers and ouvrieTes who set fire to it. 
The Hotel de Yille came next. The centre of Paris, on both 
sides of the Seine, was thus enveloped with fiames and smoke, 
which spread towards the extremities. Still the fighting con- 
tinued fierce. The Yersailles troops, having carried the barri- 
cades in the Boulevards Bonne-Nouvelle and Poissonniere, and 
some adjoining positions, which were stubbornly contested, finally 
became undisputed masters of the centre. The Quartier du 
Temple was the next theatre of the carnage, which was merciless 



82 PAEIS UNDEK THE COMMUNE ; 

on both sides. Women and children shared both in the fiendish 
fight and the pitiless retribution. From the Buttes Chaumont 
the insurgents bombarded the city with petroleum shells. Is'um- 
berless insurgents caught with arms in their hands were shot ; 
others were drawn from their hiding-places to share the same 
fate. Similar was the aspect of affairs in the eastern half of 
Paris on Thursday, during which day the insurgents, after having 
blown up or evacuated all their positions south of the Seine, 
including the forts of Bicetre and Ivry, still held Bercy, Cha- 
ronne, the Pere la Chaise, Menilmontant, Belleville, the Buttes 
Chaumont, La Yillette, La Chapelle, and the environs of the 
Place de la Bastille. 

On Priday the Government troops attacked both Belleville — 
upon which batteries of marine guns erected at Montmartre 
poured a terrible fire — and the Place de la Bastille. The fight- 
ing at each point was very severe, and was soon extended over the 
adjoining districts. The havoc among the insurgents became 
frightful. Several thousands surrendered, others fled beyond the 
ramparts, where they were disarmed and arrested by the Prus- 
sians. On the following day Picard announced in the Assembly 
that " Generals Yinoy and Douai, after capturing the Place de la 
Bastille, had occupied the Faubourg St. Antoine as far as the 
Barriere du Trone, and that Generals Clinchant and L'Admirault 
had advanced to the foot of the Buttes Chaumont." This an- 
nouncement summed up the results of the operations of Friday, 
which were completed on Saturday, the 27th, by the capture of 
the Buttes Chaumont and Menilmontant by L'Admirault, and of 
the Cemetery of Pere la Chaise by Yinoy. The fighting at all 
these places is described as desperate in the extreme, the Yersailles 
troops, after a last summons by Marshal McMahon, having ceased 
to give quarter — " to man, woman, or child," says the report — 
and men, women, and children were fighting. Remnants of 
various bands, hunted up in their last place of refuge, the Bois 



OR, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 83 

de Yincennes. surrendered on Sunday. General la Cecilia yielded 
the Castle of Yincennes shortly after, with 6,000 prisoners, hav- 
ing first blown up the magazine and done what he could to de- 
stroy his garrison in that way. 

The destruction of human life in these last ten days had been j^ 
frightful. Of the victims of the Commune, many of them inno- 
cent victims — men, women, and children who had no sympathy 
with its horrible doctrines, and its more horrible practices — not 
less than 35,000 were killed between May 22d and May 28th, and 
more than 12,000 previously ; while of those who had been actors 
in this fearful drama, 45,000 had been taken prisoners, many of 
them among the wounded. The l^ses of the besieging troops 
had been smaller, though they were very heavy during those six 
or seven days of barricade fighting, and, according to the best 
authorities, during the whole period from March 18th to May 28 th, 
were about 13,000 killed, and perhaps as many more wounded. 
Here, then, were not less than 80,000 or 90,000 men either slain 
or so wounded that they would eventually die of their wounds, 
because a handful of mad fanatics and adventurers in Paris were 
determined to seize upon the supreme power in the city and na- 
tion. Had these leaders of the insurrection all met with the fate 
they deserved, there would be some compensation for this fright- 
ful loss of life in the fact that the world was rid of so many of 
those whose lives had been occupied with the endeavor to destroy 
order, and ruin all with whom they were brought in contact. But 
too many of them have escaped. Flourens, one of the best of 
the bad lot, and Duval, fell early in battle. Blanqui is a prisoner, 
and probably will be executed ; Delescluze, Dombrowski, Milliere, 
Billioray, Kaoul Eigault, Miot, Yalles, Ferre, Brunei, Yarlin, 
Gambon, Lefrancais, Yidal, Yilain, Salinski, Thibout, Bruneron, 
Jourde, Moilin, Gaillard, Burget, and perhaps one or two more, 
were either killed in battle or shot when captured. It was reported 
tliat Cluseret, Cecilia, and Eudes had also been shot ; but there is 



84 



PAHIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 



reason to believe that they have escaped. Assi, Rossel, Roche- 
fort, Grousset and Felix Pyat are prisoners, and their fate should be 
prompt and certain. Whatever the intellectual abilities of these 
men, and some of them undoubtedly possess a high order of tal- 
ent, they are too dangerous to community, and have done too much 
mischief, for society to be endangered by their further existence in 
this life. Especially should we regret the escape of Cluseret and 
la Cecilia from the doom which both so richly merit. The very 
earth on which they tread cries aloud for vengeance on creatures 
so unworthy of life. 

The destruction of property, though not to be named in the 
same breath with this terrible destruction of human life, has yet 
been such as has not been witnessed before during the present 
century, or hardly during any century of the Christian Era. 
Paris, the most beautiful of modern cities, with its grand and 
sumptuous palaces, its magnificent public and private edifices, its 
columns, arches, statues, and fountains, the wonder and admira- 
tion of the world, — Paris, not as it was in the days of the Six- 
teenth Louis, with its narrow streets, its alternations of palace and 
hovel, its dens of La cite and its broad parks and ill-constructed 
royal residences, but the Paris of 1870, on which had been lav- 
ished all the architectural and civic skill and the vast expenditure 
of Baron Haussmann's gigantic plans, now lies waste and deso- 
late. St. Cloud is in ruins, the Tuileries destroyed, the greater 
part of the Louvre burned ; the Hotel de Yille, the Palais Royal, 
the Palace of the Legion of Honor, the buildings of most of the 
Government ministries, M. Thiers' residence, several hundred pri- 
vate residences, the Lyons station, five or six of the principal 
theatres, several churches, the ISTapoleon Column in the Place 
Yendome, have all been destroyed, and many other public build- 
ings seriously injured. The Bank of France, the Great Hospital, 
the Hotel Dieu, and many other important buildings were found 
to have vast collections of combustibles under them ready for the 




THE HALL OF THE CORPS LEGISLATIF. 



OK, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 8i 

torch ; but the overthrow of the Commune was too sudden to give 
time to fire them. Indeed, the sudden destruction of the Com- 
mune was all that saved Paris from becoming a mass of ruins, 
for the sewers had been charged with explosive compounds, and 
within three days after the overthrow of the insurgents more 
than a thousand electric wires, arranged to explode these com- 
pounds in every part of the city, were cut, and this wholesale de- 
struction prevented. 

Wicked and depraved as Paris was, and seemingly given over 
to all uncleanness, the hand of God, that God whom these Com- 
munists had ignored and denied, was never more plainly visible 
than in saving the city from the terrible doom which these mad 
atheists strove to bring upon it. His hand alone arrested them,, 
and prevented its utter destruction. 

We have long believed that no man or body of men were so 
utterly depraved that there was not in them some redeeming^ 
ti-ait, some trace of the lost Eden, some possibility of good which,, 
under other and better influences, might have germinated and 
brought forth at least evidence of some of the sympathies of our 
common humanity and brotherhood ; but in the contemplation 
of these stupendous crimes against man and against God, we 
must own that our faith in the native goodness of the human 
heart is staggered. The beings that could deliberately plan and 
prepare for the destruction, by explosion, of a city of a million 
and a half of inhabitants, who had no pity for the tender babe, 
the winning innocence of childhood, the beauty and confiding 
trust of woman, and the gray hairs of the aged, but were willino- 
and ready to whelm them all in a death so sudden and terrible ; 
— the creature who could deliberately offer to sacrifice fourteen 
thousand of his fellow-men to death, helpless and unarmed, or 
who could deliberately set fire to the magazine of a fort, hoping 
thus to rid himself of a part of his troops, taking care to be out 
of the way of the explosion himself ; the villains who could mur- 



88 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

der in cold blood the ministers of religion, and especially those 
wlio had adorned a high station bj the most consistent and self- 
denying benevolence and charity; the wretches who conld be 
gnilty of such deeds as these, and others of like atrocity, are 
surely so thoroughly depraved that even the demons of the .pit 
cannot equal them in degradation. 

We would fain hope that with this terrible carnival of blood 
the danger to France was forever averted ; that, henceforth, 
sobered and saddened by the misfortunes and errors of the past, 
she would become a wiser and better nation than if she had not 
passed through such a fiery ordeal, and that a bright and glori- 
ous future was in store for her. But alas ! there seems to be but 
little ground for such hope. Dark clouds, impenetrable by mor- 
tal eyes, shroud her future, and no friend of hers, be he never so 
hopeful, can find any gleams of light breaking through the 
murky mass. 

For a Republic, pure and simple, she is evidently unfit ; the 
attempt to establish it would soon degenerate into another Com- 
mune, for the elements of disorder and mischief still exist and 
in vast numbers. A Republic with oligarchical powers or a consti- 
tutional monarchy might afford a brighter promise ; but where is 
the president or the king who possesses the ability to rule consti- 
tutionally over such a people ? Thiers' administration, at the 
best, is but temporary ; and adroit as he is, he has not the weight 
of character to awe into obedience the turbulent, fickle, restless 
masses. Look where we may throughout France, there is no man 
so great in goodness, so wise in counsel, so dignified and self- 
centred, as to be able to make his infiuence felt throughout the 
nation, and hold it in wise and judicious control. Shall the 
French people return to the Bonapartes, whom they so lately 
discarded ? We do not believe it ! The man of December has 
proved himself so utterly corrupt, so palpable a fraud, that he 
could not reign a month ; and neither Eugenie, alternately the 



OE, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 89 

devotee of fashion and the dupe of a Jesuit father confessor, nor 
the poor simple-minded boy who calls her mother, have the abil- 
ity to rule in so stormy a time. Shall it be Bourbon or Orleans ? 
Neither, we would fain hope, for the manifesto of Henri de 
Chambord demonstrates that now, as in 1815, the Bourbons have 
learned nothing and forgotten nothing. He proposes to govern 
France by the old Bourbon traditions, to sign a concordat with 
the Pope, and to pledge France to aid in restoring the temporal 
power of the Papacy, w^hich, to say nothing of any other result, 
involves a war with Italy. The elevation of either of the Or- 
leans princep to the throne would involve measurably the same 
results, since, though men of broader views and more enlightened 
sentiments, thoy are pledged to maintain the Jesuit supremacy. 

A hard fate it seems to be for poor, unfortunate, misguided 
France that there is for her no middle ground ; that she must be 
either atheist or papal, and that when all the nations around her 
are rising to a higher conception of true liberty of thought and 
action, in the fear of God, she alone cannot emerge from the 
Yalley of the Shadow of Death. 



90 



PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 



CHAPTER V. 

We have preferred to give the daily progress of this civil war 
in a continuous narrative from its beginning to its close, and then 
to group together a few of the more striking incidents and epi- 
sodes of this reign of terror, rather than to mar its effect by the 
introduction of these into the narrative in a strictly chronological 
order. We find ourselves embarrassed, however, by the profusion 
of these incidents, communicated often by personal friends, and 
containing in each case so much 

" of horrible and awfu', 
That e'en to name would be iinlawfu'." 

We might easily fill the pages of a volume larger than this 
with narratives of the horrors of these two months, the murders, 
the blasphemies, the treasons, the avowals of doctrines and the 
commission of acts which fairly make the blood curdle ; but we 
forbear. To us, and we doubt not to our readers, the whole sub- 
ject is inexpressibly painful, and the possibility that men formed 
in the image of God could fall so low, is intensely humiliating 
and distressing. 

We shall therefore select only from the great mass of material 
before us those incidents which have so much of historic interest 
as to entitle them to a place in our record. 

No more vivid picture of the condition of Paris during the 
sway of the Commune has been drawn than that of M. Joseph 
Garnier, himself a citizen of Paris during the reign of terror. It 
bears date May 16th, while the Commune was still in power, and 
was published in the Journal des Economistes for May, 1871. 



OR, THE BED KEBELLION OF 1871. 91 

We have only room for a few passages. The first describes most 
accurately the classes of which the Commune was composed : — 

" No sooner had the Commmie begun to be than it fell into the 
hands of a motley crowd, in which honest labor was represented 
by a minority. This minority was excited by a band of foreign- 
er, some adventurers by profession, others planning revolutions 
yet to be in their own country, all in search of a social position. 
These led on a mass of men driven out of their habits by events, 
— workmen, tradesmen, small manufacturers, citizens, artists, old 
men, young men, some mystic believers in an ideal commune, 
others in absolute need of pay of some sort, others forced into 
action, — all bound together by self-love, by the common danger, 
or by the horror with which the conflict soon led them to regard 
Versailles, which in their eyes became a sjoionyme for the 
empire, the Jesuits, the old monarchy, the reaction, and Cay- 
enne. Beside these were to be found a certain number of 
sincere men bent on sa^dng the republic, fearing lest a reaction 
might destroy all liberty, and dreading above all things the con- 
tinued effusion of blood. 

" Out of these elements arose the Central Committee, chiefly 
composed of members of the 'Internationale^' which at once 
found itself compelled to elect a working government to be bap- 
tized the 'Commune.' This election took place hastily on the 
26th of March, while Paris was in a state of panic, and eight 
days only after the atrocious murders of Generals Thomas and 
Lecomte. So great were the ' abstentions ' that in many dis- 
tricts not even an eighth part of the legal votes were cast. Tet 
of the ninety members elected only one-tenth were members of 
the Central Committee ; the others were journalists, club orators, 
spouters, agitators, for the most part belonging not to the work- 
ing classes, but to the bom-geoisie. The Commune, once elected, 
di\dded itself into ten commissions, the chief of which, the Exe-. 
cutive Commission, eventually made itself a sort of dictatorship 



92 PARIS UNDEE THE COMMUNE ; 

under the title of the ' Committee of Public Safety.' It was 
understood that the Central Committee should retire after the 
election of the Commune. But as the Central Committee was 
left out in the cold by the elections, it refused to retire. And 
the military authorities soon taking it upon themselves to disre- 
gard both the Commune and the Central Committee, it followed 
that Paris found herself more and more confusedly governed 
under the new system than she had ever before been in all her 
checkered history." . 

The question has often been asked, " Wliat were these Com- 
munists fighting for ? " and many have been disposed to censure 
M. Thiers as being responsible for the ruin of Paris, because he 
refused to grant what they are pleased to call " the reasonable 
demands of the Commune." M. Garnier, on the other hand, 
.insists and demonstrates that from the beginning it kept up the 
civil strife by refusing to state for what it was fighting. M. 
Thiers, after offering previously to comply with their reasonable 
demands, and eliciting no reply, proceeded early in April to make 
definite propositions and concessions, which, as we have already 
said, were too liberal, but which were offered in the hope of 
arresting the fratricidal strife. At first no reply was made to 
this, " but finally," says M. Garnier, " on the 19th of April a 
declaration was formally put forth to the effect that the Com- 
mune was fighting to found in France a federation composed of 
all the communes of France ; these to be autonomous, independ- 
ent, legislating at home as sovereigns upon all subjects, and 
associated voluntarily." And this conception of a voluntary 
association of 36,000 independent communes was gravely put 
forth as the fulfilment of the " largest and most fruitful revolu- 
tion which has ever illuminated history." 

By the 10th of May another step forward had been made. On 
that day Delescluze, the chief of the moment, announced to the 
National Guard that Paris was fighting, not for municipal rights 




■ THE CHAPELIiE EXPIATOIRE, DESTROYED BY THE COMMUNISTS. 



OR, THE KED EEBELLION OF 1871. 95 

or voluntary associations of communes, but " for social equality 
and the emancipation of France and of the world." Meanwhile 
the complex and kaleidoscopic governments of Paris had been 
breeding decrees as a marsh breeds frogs. One of these decrees 
confiscated all the workshops and factories " basely abandoned by 
those who had directed them," or, in other words, the property of 
all the imhappy manufacturers whose business had been destroyed 
by the war, the siege of Paris, and the civil strife. Another or- 
dered the " female professions, the washer-women, feather-makers, 
flower-makers, and linen- workers to send delegates to the Commit- 
tee on the Organization of Labor." Another declared all rents 
abolished from the outbreak of the war, and ordered any sums 
already paid since August, 1870, to be credited against rents 
which should become due after the peace ! Another suppressed 
all night-work in the bakeries, thereby changing at a blow all the 
daily habits and diet of three-fourths of the people of Paris. 
Another forbade the infliction of fines or penalties of any kind 
upon workmen as " involving an unjust diminution of their 
wages." Another set up for sale at cost price the large supplies 
of goods laid in by the Government in warehouses seized for that 
purpose. Another confiscated all the funds and stores collected 
by the " International Aid Society for Sick and Wounded Sol- 
diers " (a Sanitary Commission organized mainly through the 
efforts of our Dr. Bellows in 1867), and dismissed or imprisoned 
all its surgeons, nurses, etc. 

M. Garnier thus describes the life which was developed out of 
this condition of affairs : — " At the beginning the fever of the 
revolt ; the murder of the generals ; the firing in the Place Yen- 
dome ; then many days of terror during the elections. From the 
first of April forward the noise of cannons and of mitrailleuses 
by night and day ; the bui'sting of bombs to the west and north- 
west ; the bugles and the drums everywhere sounding ; barricades 
and torpedoes ; noisy marches out, dismal marches home ; f une- 



96 PARIS TJNDEE THE COMMUNE; 

rals by day and by night ; all men from nineteen to forty forci- 
bly enrolled ; constant liability to arrest by agents regular and 
irregular ; domiciliary visits, perquisitions, and requisitions ; the 
closing of churches ; the dispersion of the brethren of Christian 
Doctrine and of the religious communities; the suppression of 
the newspapers to the number of thirty-four; nocturnal arrests of 
many priests, including the Archbishop, of publicists, and of dep- 
uties; decrees on decrees, incessant prohibitions and proscrip- 
tions put up on the walls, from the Commune, from the Central 
Committee, from the generals, from the municipality, the ex- 
prefect of police, the committees, the delegates of all sorts, who 
either had power or who assumed it ; on every hand angry conver- 
sations, irritated and irritating, excitement, intolerance; every- 
where fear, pity, regret, hatred, or vengeance ; in official quarters 
distrust, suspicion, imprisonments, removals. Rochefort said of 
these : — ' The Hotel de Yille distrusts the War Department, the 
War Department the navy ; Fort Yanvres distrusts Montrouge ; 
Raoul-Kigault distrusts Rossel, and Yesinier distrusts me.' " 

— A correspondent of the New York Herald relates as 
follows a conversation he held with Bergeret, the printer gene- 
ral of the first days of the Commune. The correspondent said to 
him : — 

" You have no religion, of course. Do you, however, beheve 
in the immortality of the soul ? " 

" I believe in the immortality of the human mind ; but not of 
the individual soul. We live ; we grow up ; we fall and die as 
the leaf, and return to the dust, from whence we came ; and we 
are only immortal in our children." 

" Do you believe in a God ? " ■ 

"¥o." 

"Why?" 

" Because it is not republican. Because, if there were a God, 
He would be a tyrant. I fight God in the universe as I did the em- 



Oli, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 97 

jure in France. It is the one-man power, the pouvoir personnel of 
Kapoleon III. If there were such a place as heaven, and I went 
there and found a God, I would immediately commence throw- 
ing up barricades. I would hoist the red flag. I would rebel. 
It is contrary to justice, it is contrary to reason, it is contrary to 
riglit that one should govern the many — that there should be 
a God." 

" What do you substitute for God ? " 

" Universal harmony." 

" What do you mean by that ? " 

" The union of everything that exists in one harmonious whole. 
Man, animals, flowers, plants, trees, stars, planets — everything." 

" Otherwise the universe itself." 

" Yes." 

" Did this universe or universal harmony, as you call it, create 
itself?" 

" Ah, that is a question I cannot answer. It is something the 
human mind cannot grasp ; probably because we lack a faculty. 
As a person who is born blind cannot comprehend light, so we 
cannot understand the Creation. I could ask you as well who 
created God, and you wonld probably give me the same answer. 
Try to think it out, and you will go crazy." < 

" Therefore, at this limit of the human understanding there is 
a barrier which you call universal harmony, whereas we call it 
God ? " 

" That is my meaning exactly." 

Bergeret's views were not one whit more atheistic than those 
of his associates in the Comrnune. One of the numerous victims 
of the Communist leaders in the Mazas prison, finding himself 
near death, urgently desired that he might be permitted to see a 
priest. With great difiiculty his request was granted, and when 
the priest applied for a pass (without which he could not enter the 
prison), he received it in these terms fi-om Cluseret : — 



98 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE; 

"Pass into the Mazas Prison Citizen B., who styles himself the 
servant of a person named God." 

The value of the i^ational Guards (the Communal troops) as 
soldiers seems not to have been very great, though foreigners had 
during the early part of the siege overrated them. A correspond- 
ent of the N'ew York Tribune gives the following result of his 
observations on this point : — 

" It is the fashion to say here (even among Americans) : ' Ah, 
if these iN^ational Guards had only been allowed to measure their 
strength with the Prussians, the issue of the war would have been 
very different from what it was.' Most of the gentlemen who 
venture on this kind of statements have probably not had an op- 
portunity of seeing the National Guards under fire. Having 
been out at IS^euilly several times lately, I have formed a very 
different opinion of the worth of the National Guards as trained 
soldiers. An aide-de-camp of General Dombrowski, who accom- 
panied me in my rounds recently, did not care to conceal his con- 
tempt for the troops under the General's orders. ' For the de- 
fence of certain positions, ramparts and the like, my men are all 
very well,' he said ; 'but to go in line of battle with them against 
regular troops, above all such troops as the Prussians, would sim- 
ply be madness ; ' and I have seen much at Neuilly to confirm 
this view. During the armistice, at every barricade there was a 
clamor for reinforcements. ' Ah, reinforcements,' said a col- 
onel of National Guards to me, ' that is our great stumbling- 
block ; if we have thirty men defending a barricade, we are 
obliged to have fifty more in reserve behind them. If we neglect 
to do this, directly the men on the barricade find they are unsup- 
ported, even for an instant, they run away.' An officer, during 
the armistice on Tuesday last, showed me a barricade. ' There,' 
he said, ' just look at that barricade ; it is not only useless but 
actually in the way, and yet I dare not order it to be destroyed. 
The men took into their heads to build it without waiting for 



OK, THE BED EEBELLION OF 1871. 99 

ordei-s ; neither will they obey me if I order them to destroy it.' 
Dombrowski has been blamed for exposinpj himself as he does ; 
but there is no doubt that he is right, for it is only his example 
and that of his staff that keeps the men at their posts." 

— The difficulty of obtaining all the money they wanted was 
from the first a very serious one with the members of the Comnmne, 
and it led in many instances to their offering to give up some im- 
portant posts or surrender the entire city for a specified sum to be 
secured to them individually. These negotiations undoubtedly 
brought them some money ; but it was often the case that they 
resembled in this, as in so many other particulars, the being who 
tempted our Saviour with the offer to " give him all the kingdoms 
of the world and the glory of them ; " they offered what they did 
not possess. 

A statement of their receipts and expenditures from the 20th 
of March to the 30th of April was published, and was as follows : 
The total expenditure of the Commune in those forty days was 
$5,027,600, of which $4,011,000 went to the War Office, and 
$362,000 to the intendance, while the different Mairies swallowed 
up $289,000. To meet this outlay the Finance Minister found in 
various coffers which were specified, $931,600 ; the octroi yielded 
him $1,693,200 ; sales of tobacco brought in $351,800, and to 
make up all deficiencies the Bank of France lent $1,550,000, 
carrying the total receipts for the forty days up to $5,200,000. 

It will be noticed that this professedly democratic body obtained 
nearly one-third of its receipts from the octroi tax — an impost 
upon all goods entering the city gates — the most odious and offen- 
sive of the taxes of the old Bourbon times. They had learned 
better, however, before the final collapse of the Commune. The 
silver plate of the churches and of obnoxious citizens, the sil- 
ver and bronzes wliich M. Thiers had treasured up in his long; 
life, and forced loans fi-om the Bank of France, furnished thenj 
with means in abundance for the next twenty-five or twenty-sis: 



X^^ PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

days. They had even gone so far as to send men to England to 
negotiate the sale of the pictures of the Louvre, but we believe 
had effected few sales, when the sudden overthrow of their power 
left them no further opportunities for the negotiation. 

—The utter recklessness of the Communal authorities was made 
painfully manifest on the 17th of May in the explosion of a large 
cartridge manufactory at Grenelle, near the Champ de Mars, a 
densely populated quarter of Paris, peculiarly exposed to the fire 
of the batteries of the Yersailles troops at Neuilly and Montre- 
tout. In this manufactory the metallic cartridges for the Chasse- 
pot rifles were made, and the explosion not only caused the death 
of over a hundred, and the serious wounding of some two hundred 
more on the spot, but the bullets which rained down over the 
whole quarter throughout a radius of five hundred yards wounded 
very many others. The explosion was said to have been the 
result of an accident, but it might very easily have been induced 
by some of the constantly falling shells from the hostile batteries, 
which killed many of the wounded as they lay on the ground in 
the Champ de Mars. 

■ — One of the most absurd and insane acts of the Commune was 
the destruction of the Napoleon Column in the Place Yendome. 
The column was not the representative of a dynasty so much as 
an impersonation of that military glory and renown which had a 
always been the special pride and boast of the French people, 
and its destruction was a piece of puerile folly that men should 
have been ashamed of. 

A correspondent of the JVew York Triune has given a most 
graphic description of the scene. 

" To-day (May 16) the Journal Offioiel announced in due form 
that the column would come down at two o'clock precisely, and 
to the Rue de la Paix accordingly 'all Paris' found its way. 
Long before two o'clock the street was so crowded that it was 
with the greatest difficulty that I and two friends elbowed our 



OR, THE KED REBKLLION OF 1871. .101 

way through the densely packed masses of people. Iloweyer, I 
was not sorry to go slowly, as I was anxious to hear the general 
opinion as to the destruction of one of the proudest tributes to 
French arms. Most" of the people I spoke with seemed to be 
quite indifferent as to the work of destruction. They hated 
Napoleon, and appeared to think they were really doing some- 
thing to hinder the return — now only too possible — of ' Badin- 
guet ' (Napoleon III.) to France by overturning the statue of his 
uncle. No one was admitted on the Place Yendome itself with- 
out a special ticket issued by the Committee of Public Safety. 
Furnished with such a ticket, I was able to penetrate to the Place 
Yendome and observe the preparations which had been made for 
the fall of the famous column. They seemed at first sight totally 
inadequate for so vast an undertaking. A large cable had been 
passed around the top of the column just below the statue ; this 
rope (or rather these ropes, for there were four of them) was at- 
tached to an anchor and capstan in the Rue de la Paix. But the 
anchor and capstan were both so exceedingly badly fixed in the 
ground that it was evident to the most inexperienced observer that, 
unless the column fell of its own weight, something was sure to 
give way in the tackling. The engineer .(M. Abadie), however, 
like most Frenchmen, was wonderfully self-confident, and assured 
every one who chose to listen to him that the column would fall 
whenever he gave the word for the ropes to be tightened. At 
about 3 o'clock we in the Place were all driven back on to the 
sidewalks by a line of guards, while a squadron of the newly 
organized ' Cavalry of the Commune ' drove back the anxious 
crowds in the Rue de la Paix. 

" Colonel Mayer, who commanded in the Place Yendome, then 
ascended the column in full uniform of the National Guards, " 
with a small tricolor fiag in his hand. After walking around 
the gallery at the top of the column, and waving his flag to all 
the quarters of the heavens, Colonel Mayer then tore the bunting 



102 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

and proceeded to tie it point downward to the rails surrounding 
the crowning gallery. Having accomplished this feat he took 
off his cap, shook his fist at the statu e of Napoleon above him, 
and cried out, Vive la Commune. He then came down, and the 
order to tighten the rope was almost immediately given by a 
member of the Commune standing in the balcony of the Ministry 
of Justice, just above where I was stationed. Rapidly the big 
ropes became as rigid as bars of steel; all eyes were turned 
towards the column, and we all thought its hour had come, more 
especially because a rapidly passing cloud made it look as if it 
already trembled on its base. But the capstan turned without 
effect, when suddenly a loud crack was heard, and a block 
attached to the capstan gave way, knocking over several sailors. 
Nobody, however, was badly hurt, but we were told that nothing 
could be done for two hours, as a new block must be obtained. 

"There were no less than three bands on the Place, and each 
struck up a separate tune to console us for our disappointment, 
and the cavalry of the Commune proceeded to caracole on the 
Place, to the no small amusement of the spectators. One or two 
horsemen w^ere very near kissing mother earth, but by dint of 
great gymnastic ability contrived to retain their seats. The per- 
son most to be pitied at this moment was poor Colonel Mayer, 
who looked very small indeed. What a dreadful thing for the 
poor Colonel if, after all his acting, the column were to decline to 
fall. About 5 o'clock it was announced that all was ready, and 
two new ropes were attached to the top of the column in order 
to shake it so as to add to the steady tension of the ropes already 
described. At 5.20 the six ropes began to tighten, amid breath- 
less expectation from the assembled thousands. For nearly five 
minutes no effect whatever seemed to be produced on the majes- 
tic column, which still rose against the bright blue sky as bold 
and majestic as ever, and seeming to defy fate and the Com- 
mune. The men at the capstan strained and sweated, and the 




THE VENDOME COLUMN OVERTHROWN. 



OE, THE EED KEBELLION OF 1871. 105 

engineer ran about from capstan to column and from column to 
capstan like one demented. A band played the Marseillaise at 
the rate of two bars to a second. Suddenly there was a cry of 
^11 tomhe ' (lie falls), and surely and slowly the huge bronze mass 
bowed and tumbled toward the Eue de la Paix, and fell on its 
bed of fagots, sand, and dung. Strange to say, as it fell it burst 
into three or four pieces before it touched the ground. Strikino- 
the bed with a loud report, it hurled the fagots, and even pieces 
of the bas-reliefs, right and left. A huge cloud of dust arose at 
once, but the crowd rushed madly forward to secure relics of the 
fallen monument. Like flies on a carcass, we were all busy in 
ten seconds after the column had fallen in securing pieces of its 
remains. Before the dust had fairly cleared away, Mayer and 
several members of the Commune were to be seen frantically 
waving red flags from the empty pedestal, and shrieking Vive la 
Commune. Bergeret scrambled upon the prostrate column, and 
made a speech, abusing the First Napoleon, whose statue lay 
broken and prostrate before him. Kochefort also attempted to 
make himself heard from the top of the pedestal, but the dust 
seemed to have got into his throat and no one could hear what he 
said. Slowly the crowd dispersed, and as I quitted the Rue de 
la Paix I heard a bystander say, 'Ah, it is always true of us 
Gauls, that Y(b Victis is ever our motto. Had Badiriguet but won 
a victory on the Rhine they would have gilt the old column and 
put up a bigger one than ever to the man they now despise.' " 

— The entrance of the Yersailles troops into Paris in the night 
of May 21st was a surprise to the Communists, and was unex- 
pected at that time by the Yersaillists themselves, although from 
the constant firing of their heavy batteries the enceinte had been 
so widely breached that their entrance in the course of two or 
three days was confidently expected. That they did enter at that 
time, and were thus enabled to prevent the entire destruction of 
the city, which the Commune had intended, was due to the 



106 PAEIS UNDER THE COATMUNE ; 

energy and patriotism of an engineer named Dm-anel, wbo, 
though a resident of Paris, had no sympathy with the Commune. 
The Paris correspondent of the London Times thus relates M. 
Duranel's very brave exploit : — 

" M. Duranel was overseer of roads and bridges in the service 
of M. Alphant, chief engineer of the works for the embellishment 
of the town, and under this name has been for a long time in 
charge of the works about Auteuil and Passy. M. Duranel, who 
was formerly a non-commissioned officer of piarines, is a man of 
rare energy. Instead of allowing himself to be carried away by 
the stream of emigration, he never left off communicating with 
his chief, who was at Versailles. Being gifted with superior 
talents, he was able to remember the fortifications erected by the 
insurgents, made plans of them, and took them to M. Alphant, 
who submitted them to the Chief of the Executive Power, He 
went on with this till, the works being sufficiently advanced, he 
felt that the hour had come when it would be possible to do more 
active service. When the time seemed near he was put in direct 
communication with the military authorities, and more especially 
with Gen. Douai, Commander-in-Chief of the Fom-th Corps, which 
was encamped at Yilleneuve I'Etang and Marne, and was to enter 
Paris by Pa'ssy and Auteuil. After several attempts, Duranel 
signalled that the ramparts were abandoned, and that the con- 
fusion in the army of the Party of Disorder was increasing. The 
more and more energetic leaders who succeeded each other in the 
command did not long leave this part of the enceinte undefend- 
ed ; but when the batteries of Montretout had destroyed all the 
houses which skirt the ramparts at the back, and the St. Cloud 
gate was in ruins, its defence had become impracticable. It had 
been almost abandoned for two days, and the Federal soldiers 
had taken up their position at the foot of the heights of Passy, 
when M. Alphant's bold assistant saw that all the defenders of 
the Commune had disappeared on that side, or, at least, that their 




COMMUNISTS ESCAPING OVER THE RAMPARTS. 




BTUDIO OP ROSA BONHETTR IN THE FOEEST OF FONTAINEBLEAII. 



OB, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 109 

numbers were insignificant. This was on Sundaj^, the 21st of 
May. At any cost it was necessary to inform the commander of 
the Fourth Corps what was the state of affairs. M. Duranel 
could only get at the General by going through St. Denis, so he 
started for the Chemin de Fer du Nord. It was about three in 
the afternoon. Thinking over the precious time he was losing 
while going this roundabout way, he was seized with fear lest the 
Communists should reoccupy the ramparts, lie ordered the car- 
riage to turn round, and alighted as near as possible to the St. 
Cloud gate. He was intimately acquainted with all this part of 
Paris, and was able to avoid the posts of the insurgents, and 
evade the vigilance of the citizens placed in the houses. The 
brave citizen got as far as the ramparts, where the shells of Mon- 
tretout were falling ceaselessly. Braving this danger he mounted 
the salient angle of the bastion, waving his white handkerchief. 
About 50 yards from the glacis, lying flat on their faces, con- 
cealed in the grass, were thirty sailors, commanded by Command- 
er Treves. They had their orders, and were permanently estab- 
lished there, ready at any moment to avail themselves of an 
opportunity. The officer heard Duranel calling him ; he raised 
his head carefully. A voice called out, ' There is no one left ; 
come on quickly.' The officer, fearing some new treachery, 
answered, ' Come on yourself.' Duranel immediately ran to the 
gate. The bridges were broken down, and to pass appeared im- 
possible. Making use, however, of some fragments of beams, 
Duranel contrived to cross the ditch. He informed the officer of 
the state of affairs ; but the latter, still on his guard, had him 
conducted under a close escort to Gen. Douai, who had received 
notice by telegraph, and had set out, soon followed by Bertaut's 
and L'Herillier's divisions. 

" The meeting between Duranel and the General was at Billan- 
court. AVliatever confidence Gen. Douai may have had in M. 
Alphant's brave assistant, he warned him that if liis troops met 



'110 PARIS UNDER THE COMMTJNE ; 

I 

with a serious resistance in their entry he would blow his brains 
out. In the mean time 600 men had been hastily got together. 
Thirty sailors marched in front ; a body of sappers had hurriedly . 
placed planks across the ditch. Bertaut's Division followed im- 
mediately. It was about 6 o'clock in the evening. The Federal 
post fled, firing their muskets, and some weak battalions advanced ' 
to resist ; but the movement had been so sudden that they were 
surrounded or dispersed, and at Y o'clock the two first divisions 
already held Upper and Lower Passy, threatening the Trocadero. 

" If this position could be gained the insurrection was crushed. 
It was to be feared that, the alarm being given, considerable 
forces would be met there. It was necessary to make sure. Du- 
ranel again undertook this perilous mission. He made his way 
across the little streets to the terraces, and returned immediately 
to say that the trooj)s might advance. As before, Gen. Douai 
warned him that he would blow his brains out if compelled to 
retreat. Duranel did not hesitate, although the Commune might 
have rallied and returned to the attack during the march. He 
was ready to give his life for the good of the city. An hour 
later the Fourth Corps occupied the terraces which command the 
Trocadero, and established themselves strongly, ready the next 
day to take the Arc de I'Etoile, the Pare Monceau, the Faubourg 
St. Honore, and the St. Lazare railway station. They had sur- 
prised the insurgents in the houses and behind their barricades, 
without the latter being able to do any material harm to the 
troops. There is no doubt that the army would have entered 
Paris easily without Duranel's courageous act, but it would have 
entered after a breach had been made two or three days later. 
It is impossible to calculate what disasters three days of delay 
might have entailed on the city of Paris." 

The effect of this surprise on the Communal troops and on the 
people of Paris was most graphically described by an eye-witness, 
whom from the style we suppose to have been Major Forbes of 



OR, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. Ill 

the London Daily News. It is the most perfect specimen of 
"word-paiuting we have seen in the jDrogress of the war : — 

" Paris, May 22. — Yesterday evening at T o'clock Gen. Dom- 
browski received nrgeiit summons from the Point du Jour quar- 
ter to make haste with succors, as the holders of the positions 
there were very hard pressed. Both the cannonade and fusillade 
from that direction, and from our immediate front at Porte de la 
Muette, continued to increase in warmth as we went down the 
Avenue Mozart. All the batteries of the Yersaillists were in full 
roar, and it was not possible, had there been still serviceable guns 
mounted on the enceinte^ to respond effectively to the steady and 
continuous fire of weighty metal. Some supports were waiting 
for Dombrowski on the Quai d'Auteuil, sheltered from the fire 
which lacerated the district by the houses on the landward side 
of the quay. Unpleasant tidings waited Dombrowski when he 
rode into the Institution de Ste. Perine, which was occupied as a 
kind of minor etat Major. From what I could hurriedly- gather, 
there had been a kind of rally. National Guards had crowned 
the shattered parts of the enceinte^ and lined the smashed case- 
mates between the gates of Billancourt and Point du Jour, and 
further northward to and beyond the gate of St. Cloud. They 
had held to the positions with considerable tenacity under a terrf- 
ble fire, but had been driven back with severe loss, occasioned' 
mainly by the close and steady shooting of the Yersaillisfr breach- 
ing batteries about Boulogne and the batteries at Brimborion. 
The gate of St. Cloud, as well as that of Point du Jour, had, like 
that of Billancourt, fallen into the hands of the Yersaillists, who, 
having occupied the enceinte in force, and the adjacent houses 
behind it, were detaching strong parties to reconnoitre irp the 
Pues Lemarrois and Billancourt, one of which at least had been 
as far as the railway, but had been driven back. 

" Dombrowski smiled as the news was communicated to him, and 
I thought of his 'second line of defence,' and of his assm-aiijco 



112 ,, PAEI8 ITNDEE THE COMMUNE; 

that the ^ situation was not compromised.' By this time it was 
nearly 9 o'clock, and it seemed to me that the Yersaillists must 
have got cannon on to the enceinte, the fire became so hot and 
heavy about and into the Institution de Ste. Ferine. Dombrowski 
and his staff were very active and daring, and the heart of the 
troops seemed good. There was some cheering at the order 
to advance, and the troops — consisting chiefly of francs-tireurs 
.•and men dressed in a Zouave dress, so far as I could see in the 
.gloom — wei-e moved briskly up into the Rue de la Municipalite. 
A couple of guns — field-guns, I fear — were got into position on 
the Circular Railway, to the left of the Rue de la Municipalite, 
•and, under their cover, the infantry debouched with a rush. Of 
<5avalry I saw only a few scattered pickets. Soon there was a 
fearful disorganization, the result of a hot and close infantry fire 
that came seemingly from over a wall which I learned bounded 
the Cimetiere des Pauvres. The Federals broke right and left, 
Some made round the corner of the Rue de Michel Ange (which 
bounds the cemetery on the right), u.nder the leadership of a young 
staff officer whom I liad noticed in the Chateau de la Muette at 
'dinner-time. There was a close fusillade and attempt, which was 
■partly successful, to storm the cemetery, taking it on three sides. 
It was said that Dombrowski himself headed the direct attack, 
ibut the locality was too warm for me to satisfy myself quite fully 
on this point. Meanwhile there seemed to be almost hand-to-hand 
^fighting going on all around in the space between the enceinte 
and the railway, I could hear the incessant whistle and patter of 
the bullets and the yells and cursing of the men, not a few of 
whom owed what courage they displayed to profuse libations. 
Every now and then there was a cheer and a rush, then a volley 
which seemed to stay the rush, and then a stampede back under 
cover. By 10^ it was obvious that the Communists had nearly 
lost their courage. Dombrowski I had lost sight of. One officer 
told me he had been killed in the churchyard, another that his 




THE AKCH OF TRIUMPH. 



OK, TEE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 115 

hors^e had been shot under him, and»that when last seen the dar- 
ing- little fellow was fisrhtinc: a Yersaillist marine with his sword. 
There came a panic, in the thick of which I made good my 
retreat behind 'the second line of defence,' which could not 
easily be recognized as a line of defence at all. I fear Dombrow- 
ski must have been gasconading. Once behind the railway, the 
Communists held the new ground with stubbornness. One or two 
attacks were made by detached parties of Yersaillists ; but their 
fire gradually died away, and soon after 11 o'clock the quietness 
had become so great that I thought the work was over for the night 
and that Dombrowski's anticipations had been realized. 

The pause was deceptive. The Yersaillists must have simply- 
held their hands for a time to make the blow heavier when it- 
should fall. ISTo doubt they had their combinations to execute 
elsewhere, and were pouring into the area between the enceinte 
and the Circular Eailway. While they were doing this they were 
also packing the thoroughfares with artillery. We could hear in 
the distance in our rear the general march beaten, A staff officer, 
who spoke English perfectly, and who was as black as a negro, 
from powder and smoke, came to where I lurked, and told me how 
he mistrusted the pause, and feared that the supreme hour had 
come at last. The supreme hour had come. It was 2 o'clock in 
the morning. Suddenly a fierce fire opened on the railway. 
Showers of shells poured upon it and in its vicinity, and upon it a 
hail of musketry pattered. The Communists did essay a reply, but 
it was extremely weak. Then there suddenly came on the wind 
the din of sharp firing from the north. I heard some one shout, 
' We are surrounded ; the Yersaillists are pouring in by the gates of 
Auteuil, Passy, and la Muette ! ' This was enough, A mad panic 
set in. The cry rose of Sauve qid pent, mingled with other 
shouts, N^ous sommes trahis. Arms and packs were thrown 
down and every one bolted at the top of his speed, the officers 

leading the way. I came on one party — a little detachment of 
8 



116 PAKIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

francs-tireurs — standing fast behind the projection of a house, and 
calling out that all their chiefs had. run away and left them. 
Whether this was the case as regards the higher commanders I 
cannot tell. I do not think that Dombrowski or any of his staff 
were the men to run. But certainly none of them were to be 
seen. There was a cry, too, that there was an invasion from the 
south, and so men surged, and struggled, and blasphemed confu- 
sedly up the quay in their confusion, shot and shell even chasing 
them as they went. In the extremity of panic, mingled with 
?rage, men discharged their pieces indisci'iminately, and struck 
each other with their guns. 

" I can hardly tell how I came to be on the Avenue du Roi de 
!Eome at about half -past five in the morning — my watch had run 
down. The battery had been carried off. Looking down the 
Boulevard de I'Empereur I saw a battery of horse artillery com- 
ing up it at a walk. A few corpses of Communists were lying 
about the battery. These troops advancing with a deliberation so 
equable were MacMahon's men coming into the Trocadero. I did 
not wait for them, but made for a side street toward the Champs 
Elysees. I came out in the beautiful avenue, about midway be- 
tween the Arch of Triumph and the Rond Point ; and there stood 
several battalions of soldiers in red breeches. They were packed 
there seemingly as densely as the Bavarians had been on the 1st 
of March, but they were not so pacific. There was no firing from 
the big barricade at the Place de la Concorde end of the Tuileries 
gardens, but National Guards were shoving about it, and now and 
then making a shot at the dense masses of the Yersaillists, who 
were very deliberate, and made quite sure of their ground before 
advancing. They had a field batteiy in action just below the 
Arch, which swept the Champs Elysees very neatly. I saw seve- 
ral shells explode about the Place de la Concorde. Penetrating 
casually in a north-westerly direction, I found danger again in 
tlie Rue Billault, a side street, nearly parallel to the Avenue de 



OR, TUE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 117 

la Heine Ilortense, which extends away from tlie Arch of Tri- 
umph, nearly at right angles to the Champs Elysees. In this 
avenue a person I spoke with told me the Versaillists had come 
upon the Communists as tliey were throwing up a barricade, and 
had saved them the trouble of completing it by taking it from 
them at the point of the bayonet. There I got very nearly shut 
in, for as I talked there was a shout, and here were the Versail- 
lists, with artillery at their head, marching down the Avenue 
Friedland toward the Boulevard Haussmann, and I had just time 
to dodge across tlieir front. I then tracked them by a side 
street, and found they pressed on steadily, firing but every now 
and then, till they reached the open space near the top of the 
Boulevard' Haussmann, in front of the Caserne de la P6piniere. 
Here was a noble position, and no mistake. They could sweep 
the Boulevard Malesherbes straight down to the Madeleine, and 
so open their way into the Rue Royale, and down it into the back 
of the barricade at its end facing the Place de la Concorde. 
There, too, they could sweep the Boulevard Haussmann along its 
whole length, and, by a steady fire along these thoroughfares, 
prevent concentration, and cut that part of Paris practically into 
three districts. 

"Becrossing the Boulevard Haussmann, I made my way by 
devious paths towards the Palais Royal. Shells seemed to be 
bursting all over the city. They were time-fuse shells ; and I 
could see many of them burst in a white puff of smoke high in 
air. Several fell on and about the Bourse as I was passing, and 
the neighborhood was silent and deserted, except by ISTational 
Guards in small parties, or singly. I could not tell whether they 
were advancing or retreating. Everywhere barricades were 
hastily erecting, but I dodged them all till I got to the Place du 
Palais Royal. Here two barricades were constructing, one across 
the Rue St. Honord, another across the Rue de Rivoli. For the 
latter the material was chiefly furnished by a great number of 



118 PARIS UNDEE THE COMMUNE ; 

articles which were hurriedly pitched out of the windows of the 
establishment, and of mattresses from the Guards' barracks at the 
Tuileries. The Rue St. Honore barricade was formed of paving- 
stoneg, cabs, and carriages, and I was compelled, nolens volens, 
to assist in the construction of it. It is pleasant, even if you are 
forced to do a thing, to attempt doing it in a satisfactory manner ; 
and, observing that an embrasure had been neglected in the con- 
struction of the barricade, I devoted my energies to remedying 
this defect. I was not soriy, however, to be released from my 
task after a quarter of an hour's work, the more so as the shell 
lire was increasing in warmth and proximity. I noticed that 
from the great barricade at the top of St. Honore, the Commu- 
nists had got one gun at least into action, and were using it to fire 
somewhere in the direction of the Arch of Triumph. It was 
impossible to fulfil my original intention, which was to cross the 
liver to the Ministry of War, therefore I returned in the direc- 
tion of the New Opera House. Crossing the Boulevard I noticed 
that the Yersaillists must have gained the Madeleine, between 
which and their position at the Pepiniere Barracks no obstacle in 
the shape of a barricade intervened. They had constructed 
across the end of the Boulevard de la Madeleine a barricade of 
trees and casks for artillery. The Communists, on their side, had 
a temporary barricade, chiefly of provision wagons, across the 
Boulevard at the head of the Rue de la Paix. By 9^ the Yer- 
saillists had advanced considerably down the Boulevard Hauss- 
mann, which they swept with a heavy musketry fire. Two lads 
were shot down close to me at the end of the Rue de Lafayette. 
There was no return fire of any account. Many Communists 
passed me in retreat, declaring, as usual, that they had been 
betrayed. As I stood, there was a scramble for a barricade in 
the B®ulevard Haussmann, about 500 yards nearer Pepiniere 
than the Rue de Lafayette. It was carried by the Yersaillist 
marines. I could see them jumping up on the barricades. 




THE NEW GRAND OPEUA HOUSE. 



OR, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871, 121 

Everywhere, as I learn, tlie Versaillists were led by gendarmes 
and sailors or marines. The National Guards fell back, dodging 
behind lamp-posts and in doorways, and firing wildly as they 
retreated. This drew a still heavier fire from the Versailles bar- 
ricade. A bullet struck the front of a gas-pillar behind which I 
stood, and fell flattened in the road, and a woman stepped out 
from the gable of the Rue de Lafayette, ^^icked up the bullet, 
and walked coolly back, clapping her hands with glee. 

" What curious ceremony is going on at the corner of the Rues 
Lafayette and Lafitte? There is a wagon, a mounted spahi, 
nearly as black as night, and an officer. A crowd is all round, 
and in the centre is a blazing fire of papers. Are they burning 
the ledgers of the bank, or the title-deeds of the surrounding 
property ? No. It is the papers of the battalion which are thus 
burning, that they might not bear witness against the members, I 
suppose. A sign surely of the beginning of the end. Other 
signs we;'e not wanting. English passports were sought after ; 
but when men talked of getting out it was found that, in tho 
morning, the Prussians had let out train after train, but stopped 
each at St. Denis, and allowed nobody to go on. A woman is 
said to have been fired on this morning on making an attempt to 
get out. The Communists retreated, ever throwing up barricades 
everywhere, so that circulation became almost impossible. They 
seemed to be heading toward Montmartre, which had opened fire 
on the Trocadero, from which the chief share of the Yersailles 
artillery fire seemed to come. The Yersaillists seemed to under- 
stand this policy, and made some haste to counteract it. By 12 
they had gained the Place de I'Europe, near the western ter- 
minus, on tlie way to Montmartre, thus completing a definite and 
well-marked line from the western terminus riverward by the 
Madeleine and the Place de la Concorde. Of the other side of 
the river 1 can say nothing. Some say the Yersaillists are as far 
as the Pont de la Concorde and the Ecole Militaire, but there Is 



122 PAHIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

no certainty. It is now 4 o'clock p.m. At about 2 o'clock the 
Yersaillists had fairly established themselves in the line I have 
described, and were making the Boulevard Haussmann terribly 
hot quarters down to the very end. At the same hour they 
began to shell, from their battery at the Madeleine, the Commu- 
nist barricade on the Boulevard des Capucines, at the top of the 
Rue de la Paix. This was a crushing fire, and the barricade was 
soon shattered. As I conclude, the Communists seem demoral- 
ized, yet are working hard everywhere erecting barricades, and 
the generale is sounding. No generals' are to be found." 

The ferocity of the leaders of the Commune, upon thus finding 
that all was lost, exceeds anything in history. Men who a day or 
two before had been willing to sell to President Thiers the city, 
its fortresses, and even their own souls, had they been worth the 
purchase, now fought with the fiercest desperation, and aiB they 
were driven, back from one barricade after another, seemed filled 
with a diabolical fury which could not be sated with destruction. 
On the dead bodies of the leaders and military officers were 
found orders to employ hundreds of persoiis to set on fire all the 
buildings of the principal streets, the public edifices, many of 
them associated in the minds of all Frenchmen with the glory of 
their capital and the history of their nation. The soldiers were 
ordered to charge their cannon with petroleum bombs, and to use 
wadding dipped in petroleum in their rifles. Nay, more ; they 
had devised plans for involving the whole city in a common de- 
struction by placing explosive compounds in all the sewers and 
arranging electric wires to explode them ! Nothing but the sur- 
prise, so well described, prevented this wholesale destruction. 
Equally atrocious in its spirit was their treatment of their pris- 
oners. The murder of the venerable Archbishop Darboy and his 
fellow-prisoners, a crime for which there was no possible justifica- 
tion, will long remain as a foul blot on the characters of the Ped 
Republicans of Paris in 18Y1. A prisoner named Evrard, in the 




PRESrDENT THIERS' HOUSE IN THE PLACE ST. GEORGE'S. 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 125 

same prison with the Archbishop (La Roquette), himself a Com- 
munist, but confined for some real or fancied offence against the 
Commune, thus relates the execution of the venerable prelate : — 
" On Wednesday, May 24, at 7.30 in the evening, the director 
of the prison, one Lafrangais, a namesake of the member of the 
Commune, and who himself had spent six years at the Bagne, as- 
cended at tlie head of fifty Federals to the gallery where the 
principal prisoners were confined. An oflicer went round to each 
cell, summoning first the Archbishop, and then in succession M. 
Bonjean, the Abbe Allard, Fathers Ducoudray and Clair, and the 
Abbe Deguerry, Cure of the Madeleine. As the prisoners were 
summoned they were marched down the road running round the 
prison, on each side of which, as far as I could see, were arranged 
the National Guard, who received the captives with insults and 
epithets which I cannot transcribe. My unfortunate companions 
were taken into the courtyard facing the infirmary, where they 
found a firing party awaiting them. Monseigneur Darboy stepped 
forward, and addressing his assassins, uttered a few words of par- 
don. Two of these men approached the Archbishop, and, in face 
of their companions, knelt before him, beseeching his forgiveness. 
The other Federals at once rushed upon them and drove them 
back with insulting reproaches, and then, turning towards the 
prisoners, gave vent to most violent expressions. The commander 
of the detachment felt ashamed of this, and, ordering silence, 
uttered a frightful oath, telling his men that they were there to 
shoot those people, and not to bully them. The Federals were 
silenced, and upon the orders of their lieutenants loaded their 
weapons. Father Allard was placed against the wall and was the 
first shot down. Then M. Darboy, in his turn, fell. The whole 
six prisoners were thus shot, all evin cing the utmost calmness and 
courage. M. Deguerry alone exhibited a momentary weakness, 
which was attributable rather to his state of health than to fear. 
After this tragical execution, carried out without any formal wit- 



126 PAEIS UNDEK THE COMMUNE ; 

iiesses, and in the presence only of a number of bandits, the 
bodies of the unfortunate victims were placed in a cart belonging 
to a railway company, which had been requisitioned for the pur- 
pose, and were taken to Pere la Chaise, where they were placed 
in the last trench of the ^ fosse coinrnxine ' side by side, without 
even any attempt to cover them with earth." 

There were in all sixty-four of these prisoners in La Eoquette 
shot on the 24th and 25tli of May. Similar barbarities were com- 
mitted at other prisons. Gustave Chaudey, one of the editors of 
the Siecle, a man highly esteemed, fell under the displeasure of 
the brutal Raoul Rigault, the " Delegate for Public Safety," and 
was consigned to St. Pelagic. On Tuesday, May 23, Eaoul Ri- 
gault came to the prison, and entering his room said to him, very 
coolly : " I have come to announce that this is your last hour." 
"How ? " cried Chaudey ; " you mean to assassinate me ? " " Tou 
are going to be shot," was the reply. The guards of the prison 
refused to shoot the prisoner, and Rigault had to go for other ex- 
ecutioners. They came into the court where Chaudey was set up 
against a wall. Pigault waved his sword as the signal to fire, and 
they fired. But they had fired too high ; the poor victim was only 
wounded, and at last he had to be despatched by being shot 
through the ear with a pistol. 

The Communists had destroyed several churches and the resi- 
dence of M. Thiers before the Yersailles troops effected an entry 
into the city ; but from the 21st to the 28th of May they seemed 
possessed with an insane and uncontrollable impulse to destroy all 
before them. In this work of destruction the women were even 
more furious than the men ; thousands of them were arrested 
either setting fire to buildings or shooting down the Yersailles 
troops from corners, from windows, behind barricades, or from 
house-tops, and when arrested they fought like tigers. Many of 
them were, it is true, of the abandoned class ; but others, wives 
and mothers, hitherto of good repute, were nevertheless now 




PRESIDENT THIERS' HOUSE {aftefr Us Sack by the Communists). 



1 



OR, THE KKn REBELLION OF 1871. 12^) 

maddened with the desire to destroy. It was sad and distressing 
to see so many of these female furies marched to execution, and 
shot down in squads by the Yersaillists ; and yet we cannot won- 
der that, finding them engaged in the work of destruction, the 
soldiers should have had no pity. The Yersailles Government 
has been very severely censured for the summary execution of so 
many prisoners, and our own leniency has been adduced in con- 
trast. We cannot help wishing that their justice had been tem- 
pered with a greater share of mercy, yet it must be urged in 
their behalf that the two situations were wholly unlike. In our 
case the soldiers and officers opposed to us understood and obeyed 
the usages of war, and did not continue fighting when further 
fighting was useless, nor did they seek to destroy what they were 
powerless to hold longer. The Communists, on the contrary, v 
acted like wild beasts, and sought to involve themselves and their I 
foes in a common ruin, and it was natural, though possibly not 
politic, to treat them like 'svild beasts, whose extermination was 
necessary for the safety of society. In the execution of the lead- 
ers of the insurrection they certainly acted wisely, and it is only 
a pity that any escaped. In the slaughter of the undistinguished 
herd it is not impossible that in some cases the innocent may have 
suffered with the guilty ; but there seems to be sufficient evidence 
that only those who were engaged in acts of murder or incendia- 
rism when taken were, knowingly, put to death. Still, we can- 
not help shuddering at such executions as the following, related 
by one of the correspondents of the London Times : " On the 
31st of May thirty -three Communists, among whom were seven 
women, were shot in a body by a company of soldiers. Around 
three sides of the square troops to the number of 1,500 were y' 
drawn up, under command of Colonel Guizot. At 8 o'clock the 
prisoners, who had been confined in the coal-cellars back of the 
porter's lodge in the Hotel de Ville, were brought out, their hands 
tied behind their backs, and then marched out by the main gate- 



130 PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

way through a double file of soldiers, and having reached the 
centre of the wide area in front of the Hotel de Yille, were 
ranged in a row, and made to kneel down close together. There 
was nothing on the whole plaza but three empty scavenger carts," 
which stood in a line at the rear of the prisoners. When the 
company was in line and ready to fire, Colonel Guizot stepped for- 
ward and told the prisoners in a few words that they were to suffer 
death for having been caught in the act of setting fire to buildings 
and dwellings of Paris. At this moment the women uttered a 
piercing shriek, and began to sway themselves back and forth. 
An officer advanced and made them keep still with the flat of his 
sword. A few moments afterward a volley was fired, and when 
the smoke cleared away a most horrible sight was presented. 
Three of the women, who were in the middle of the row, be- 
tween the men, were still living, and writhing in agony. A sec- 
ond volley was fired, and a third, and not until the sixth did all 
the prisoners cease to live. The dead bodies were then fiung into 
the three scavenger carts and carried away to be buried. There 
were very few people on the scene." 

Another case, related by the same correspondent, does not 
awaken our sympathy so much as our pity : — 

"You have heard, doubtless, of the vivandieres of the National 
battalions, who have marched brightly and bravely to the combat 
with the corps, or with the men who claimed their wild and more 
than half unwomanly devotion. One woman of this class, 
straight, tall, splendidly set, with vigor in her face and beauty in 
every limb — she could not have been more than 25, and she was 
a woman perfectly made — I saw suffer a frightful fate. Cap- 
tured, I know not how, she had killed with a revolver, before her 
hand could be stayed, a Yersaillist officer and three of his men. 
She looked ' out and out ' a fury ; her handsome face was black 
with powder, her lips especially made livid by hasty biting of 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 131 

cartridges ; her hair hung in dishevelled tangles about her hand- 
some but ferocious face ; and her eyes, gleaming with an over- 
strained coiu-age that mounted even to madness, blazed defiance 
on the red-breeched crowd who held her at their mercy. I will 
not linger on the scene. Her hands were tied, and with her back 
against a wall she died — pierced through and through Avith shots 
from the rifles of M. Thiers' troops. I could not blame them — 
but I could not help being deeply sorry for her." 

But though several thousands thus perished by summary exe- y 
cution, there were a still greater number who were prisoners, 
taken with arms in their hands, or with incendiary grenades or 
bottles of petroleum about them, ready to be used in setting fire 
to the buildings of the city. These were reserved for trial, and 
most of them would probably escape death, though perhaps not a 
protracted imprisonment or banishment. 

Wlien we consider that fully one-third of the beautiful city of / 

Paris had been destroyed through the fiendish rage of these 

Communists, and that the rest would have gone had they had 

another day for the consummation of their horrible designs, we 

can hardly withhold our sympathy with the Yersailles troops in 

their determination to exterminate such wretches from the face 

of the earth. Of the public buildings burned, some, identified 

with the past history of the nation, cannot be replaced. Among 

them the Tuileeies takes rightfully the firsf; place. Its history 

extends over centuries. In 1564, Catherine de Medicis began its 

erection. A prediction bidding her beware of St. Germain and 

the Tuileries caused her to abandon the work, and leave it for 

Henrv lY. to extend and embellish. He besran the Ions: work 

which joins the Louvre to the palace ; and the works suspended 

by his death were carried on and terminated by Louis XIIL, who 

fixed his residence there. Louis XIY. having ordered Levan and 

D'Orbay to harmonize the whole, an attic was added to the cen- 
9 



132 PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

tral buildings, and other important improvements made. This 
monarch resided in the Tuileries occasionally until the building 
of Versailles, when the court entirely forsook the capital. The 
Eegent Duke of Orleans fixed his abode in the Tuileries during 
the minority of Louis XY. ; but from that period till the forced 
return of Louis XYI. the families of persons officially attached 
to the court occupied it. 

During and since the great Revolution the palace of the Tuile- 
ries was associated with many memorable scenes. The mob 
entered it on the 20th of June, 1Y92, and it was attacked and 
the Swiss Guards massacred in the August following. It was the 
official residence of Napoleon when First Consul^ and when he 
became Emperor it formed one of the imperial palaces. In 1808 
Napoleon began the northern gallery, to serve as a communication 
with the Louvre. After the restoration the Tuileries continued 
to be the chief residence of the king and royal family. After 
the Revolution of 1830, when the people attacked and took the 
palace (June 29), Louis Philippe fixed his residence in it, and 
continued to inhabit it until the 24:th of February, 1848, when it 
was again invaded by the people, and the king made his escape. 
By a decree of the Provisional Government of '48, it was to be 
transformed into an asylum for invalid workmen, but that inten- 
tion was not carried out. During and after the formidable insur- 
rection of June of the same year it was used as a hospital for the 
wounded. In 1840 the yearly exhibition of paintings was opened 
in the Tuileries. During the reign of ISTapoleon III. it was his 
official residence, and was the scene of magnificent balls and re- 
ceptions. A concert was recently held in the Hall of the Mar- 
shals, under the auspices of the Commune. 

The exterior of the palace was grand and imposing. The 
extreme length of the fagade was 336 yards; its breadth 36 
yards. Owing to the different periods at which it was built, its 
architecture was not uniform. All that wealth and taste could 




THE PALACE OF JUSTICE. 



OK, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 135 

accomplish "was employed mulcr successive monarchs to embellish 
its intei'ior. The Emperor's private apartments were gorgeously 
decorated. The theatre could accommodate 800 spectators, and 
was used as a supper-room when balls were given at Court. The 
chapel of the palace was rather plain, and had a gallery and ceil- 
ing resting upon Doric columns of stone and stucco. The Salle 
de la Paix was used as a ball-room, and was 140 feet long by 35 
feet broad, and contained splendid statuary. The Hall of the 
Marshals was remarkable for its splendor. The names of the 
great battles fought under the First Empire were inscribed on 
its walls, and around the hall were bust^ of distinguished generals 
and naval commanders, while portraits of the great marshals of 
France adorned its panels. The furniture was ornamented with 
green velvet and gold. This was used as a ball-room on State 
occasions. Four other magnificent halls were conspicuous fea- 
tures. The carpets on them were of Gobelins manufacture, and 
cost $200,000. These halls were the AYliite, the Apollo, and the 
Throne Halls. The Throne Hall, a splendid apartment, con- 
tained the imperial throne. The hangings were of dark velvet 
of Lyons manufacture, with palm-leaves and wreaths wrought in 
gold. The throne, facing the windows, was surmounted by a 
canopy of the same, and the drapery depending from it was 
studded with bees embroidered in gold. A description of the 
remaining apartments would simply embrace a repetition of 
decorations of unrivalled elegance, the results of lavish expendi- 
ture. 

The Lom^RE, which fortunately was only partially destroyed, 
was mainly constructed by Louis XI Y., but was left in a com- 
paratively unfinished condition until 1802, when ^Napoleon 
resumed the works, and under him the Louvre was finished and 
the surrounding streets and places cleared. Its internal arrange- 
ments were made principally by Charles X. and Louis Philippe. 
Since the time of Louis XY. it has been devoted to the reception 



136 TAJBIS mSTDER THE COMMUNE; 

of the various museums of the fine arts, and was occasionally 
used for great ceremonies of state. The eastern front of the 
Louvre was one of the finest pieces of architecture of any age. 
The grand colonnade was composed of 28 coupled Corinthian 
columns, fronting a wide gallery. The central part of the build- 
ing, forming the gateway, was crowned by a pediment, the raking 
cornices of which were each of a single piece. This pediment con- 
tained a bas-relief executed by Lemot, and over the grand door- 
way was another by Cartellier. The gates themselves, made by 
order of l^apoleon, were of magnificently worked bronze. This 
front was 525 feet long and 85 feet high. The southern front, 
also the work of Claude Perrault, though not so bold, was very 
fine. It was decorated with 40 Corinthian pilasters, and, like 
the eastern, had a richly adorned pediment over the central com- 
partment. The northern front consisted of a central and two 
lateral pavilions projecting from the main body. The western 
front presented no special features of interest. 

Almost all the interior of this palace was devoted to the muse- 
ums for which it was so celebrated. These consisted of magnifi- 
cent apartments, filled with the rarest and most valuable antiqui- 
ties and artistic productions that France could secure through the 
reigns of successive sovereigns, who made additions to it a sub- 
ject of pride and emulation. As the vahiable paintings were, 
removed during the Prussian siege of Paris, the world will not 
have to deplore the irreparable loss their destruction would entail. 
Besides these, however, there was a library of great value, con- 
taining two choice collections of American books, and books on 
the discovery of this country, and many other valuable works, 
and vast collections of curiosities from America, China, India, 
and Europe, which were entirely destroyed. 

The Hotel de Yille was the place of assembly of the Munici- 
pality of Paris, and was erected and embellished at an expense 
of upward of $4,000,000. It contained several magnificent state 



OB, THE RED REBELLION OF 187L 137 

apartments, decorated in a highly artistic manner, and furnished 
at immense expense. All the revolutions of France were associ- 
ated with the Grand Hall of this building. From it Louis XYI. 
spoke to the populace with the cap of liberty on his head. It was 
in this edifice also that Tiobespierre held his council and after- 
ward attempted to destroy himself ; and it was at one of these 
windows that General Lafayette embraced Louis Philippe and 
presented him to the people. 

The Palais Eoyal, which has shared in the general destruction, 
was one of the most remarkable palaces of Paris, and was fitted 
up in splendid style for Prince Jerome and Prince Napoleon. 
Historical associations of deep interest were connected with it. 

The Palace of the Legion of Honor was built in 1Y86. The? 
interior was decorated with elegance. It was the home of the 
Grand Chancellor of the Order. 

The Palace du Quai d'Orsay was a magnificent building, ap- 
propriated to the several departments of the administration. It 
was begun while M. de Champigny, Duke de Cadore, was pre- 
mier, in the reign of Napoleon I. It was not, however, com- 
pleted until the beginning of 1830, when Charles X. intended it 
as a palace for the exhibition of the productions of French indus- 
try. The revolution delayed its completion, but it was at length 
finished by M. Lecorday, under Louis Philippe. The edifice 
consisted of four magnificent buildings surrounding a vast court, 
and two wings enclosing two smaller courts. Toward the river 
the front presented a long line of windows, formed by nineteen 
arches, separated by Tuscan columns, above which was a series of 
the Ionic order, and over this a mixed Corinthian attic, crowned 
with an elaborate battlement. The lower story was fianked at 
both ends with a balustraded platform laid out as a garden. The 
central court was surrounded by a double series of arcades with 
Doric and Ionic pilasters ; the lower fiieze was inlaid with vari- 
ous colored marbles. 



138 



PAEIS UNDEK THE COMMUNE 



The interior of this grand edifice was on a scale commensurate 
with the administrative offices of a great empire. The walls of 
the staircases were ornamented with allegorical paintings. On 
the first story was the Hall of Audience for the Court of Accounts, 
which was decorated with paintings by eminent artists. The 
ground floor, facing the river, was appropriated to the sittings of 
the Council of State. The Hall of the Pas Perdus, on this floor, 
~was an elegant square apartment, in which four Doric columns 
sustained a balustrade opening into a vestibule of the upper story. 
There were five other halls magnificently adorned, and containing 
portraits and pictures of great excellence. 

On the ground floor was also the Salle des Seances Administra- 
■tives, a saloon of great splendor, decorated vdth twenty Corin- 
thian columns of white marble, with gilt capitals, and portraits of 
Richelieu, Colbert, D'Aguesseau, Fuger, Turgot, and other emi- 
nent Frenchmen. The coned ceiling was richly gilt in compart- 
ments, and contained five emblematical paintings. In the tym- 
pans of the arches intersecting the cones were thirteen medallions, 
with portraits of distinguished French marshals and savans. The 
palace cost $2,400,000. In the destruction of this building France 
has lost official records of national importance, and productions of 
artistic skill which cannot be restored. 

— An eye-witness thus describes the appearance of the captured 
•city on the 28th of May: — 

"The aspect of the Boulevards is the strangest sight imagina- 
ble. I followed them fi-om the Porte St. Martin to the Rue de 
la Paix. Strewn over the streets were branches of trees and 
fragments of masonry that had been knocked from the houses. 
Bricks and mortar, torn proclamations, shreds of clothing half 
concealing blood-stains, were now the interesting and leading 
features of that fashionable resort ; foot-passengers were few and 
far between ; the shojis and cafes hermetically sealed, excepting 
where bullets had made air-holes ; and during my whole after- 




RUINS OF THE PORTE ST. MARTIN. 




RUINS OF THE HOTEL DE VILLE. 



OR, TIIK KED REBKLLION OF 1871. 141 

noon's promenade I only met three other carriages beside my own.. 
The Place de I'Opera was a camping-ground of artillery, the 
Place Vendome a confusion of barricades guarded by sentries, 
and the Rue Royale a mass of dehris. Looked at from the Made- 
leine, the desolation and ruin of that handsome street were 
lamentable to behold. The Place de la Concorde was a desert, 
and in the midst of it lay the statue of Lille, with the head off. 
The last time I had looked on that face it was covered with crape, 
in mourning for the entry of the Prussians. JSTear the bridge 
were twentj'-four corpses of insurgents, laid out in a row, waiting 
to be buried under the neighboring paving-stones. To the right 
the skeleton of the Tuileries reared its gaunt shell, the frame- 
work of the lofty wing next the Seine still standing ; but the 
whole of the roof of the central building was gone, and daylight 
visible through all the windows right into the Place du Carrousel. 
General McMahon's headquarters were at the Affaires JEtrangeres, 
which were intact. After a visit there, I passed the Corps Legis- 
latif, also uninjured by fire, but much marked by shot and shell, 
and so along the Quais the whole way to the Mint, at which 
point General Yinoy had established his headquarters. At the 
corner of the Rue de Bac the destruction was something appall- 
ing. The Rue de Bac is an impassable mound of ruins, fifteen or 
twenty feet high, completely across the street as far as I could 
see. The Legion d'Honneur, the Cours des Comptes, and Con- 
seil d'Etat were still smoking, but there was nothing left of them 
but the blackened shells of their nolAefagades to show how hand- 
some they had once been. At this point, in whichever direction 
one looked, the same awful devastation met the eye : to the left 
the smouldering Tuileries, to the right the long line of ruin where 
the fire had swept through the magnificent palaces on the Quai, 
and overhead again to-day a cloud of smoke, more black and 
abundant even than yesterday, incessantly rolling its dense vol- 
umes from behind Notre Dame, whose two towers were happily 



14:2 PAEIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

standing uninjured. The fire issued from the Grenier d'Abon- 
dance and other buildings in the neighborhood of the Jardin des 
Plantes. In another direction the Arsenal was also burning. On 
the opposite side of the river were the smoking ruins of the 
Theatre Chatelet and the Hotel de Yille. A large part of the 
Palais Royal is burned." 

We conclude this chapter of incidents and reminiscences of the 
insurrection with brief sketches of some of its leaders, beginning 
with 

Louis Auguste Blanqui, who was for .some time the leading 
spirit and inspirer of this insurrectionary movement, and is a born 
revolutionist and fanatic. He was born at Nice, in 1805. He is 
one of the best educated men in France, a man of high attain- 
ments both in classical and modern literature ; but from 1827, when 
he was implicated in the demonstration against Charles X., up to 
the present time, he has either been engaged in conspiracies 
against the governments of all sorts in France, or in serving out 
his terms of imprisonment for such conspiracies. He was arrested, 
tried, and acquitted in 1831, for one such attempt; arrested, 
tried, and condemned to two years' imprisonment and 3,000 francs 
fine in 1835, pardoned in 1837, involved in a new plot for insur- 
rection May 12, 1839, and after six months' concealment in Paris 
fell into the hands of the police, and was condemned to death in 
January, 1840. This sentence was commuted to imprisonment 
for life. In 1848 he regained his liberty; but in May of that 
year he was plotting against the Republic, and was arrested, tried, 
and condemned to ten years' imprisonment. He was set at liberty 
by the amnesty of 1859, but in 1861 was arrested and sentenced 
to five years' imprisonment as a member of the Carbonari. On 
the part of most men there is naturally a feeling of repulsion for 
this gray-haired fanatic, who regards the murder of those whose 
political views are opposed to his as the most natural thing in the 
world, and who more than once has coolly proposed a general 



OR, THE RKD REBELLION OF 1871. 143 

massacre of both sexes and all ages of those who did not consent 
to the rule of the Red Republicans ; but his friends seem fasci- 
nated by him, and Avill do or dare anything for him. On the 31st 
of October, ISTO, Blanqui had attempted the overthrow of the 
" Government of National Defence," and, failing, had made his 
escape, and in his absence had again been condemned to death. 
Finding that the insurgents of the Commune looked upon him as 
their leader and counsellor, M. Thiers instructed his police ofhcers 
to arrest him wherever found. He was accordingly arrested in 
one of the smaller cities of the south of France, on the 19th of 
March, 1871, and put in the prison of Figeac, but managed to 
keep up his communications with the insurgent leaders, who were 
nevertheless impatient to have him with them, and about the mid- 
dle of April proposed to exchange the Archbishop of Paris and 
several of the clergy, whom they had arrested as hostages, for 
him ; but M, Thiers was too shrcAvd to make such an exchange, 
and Blanqui was kept in prison till the downfall of the Com- 
mune. 

Gust AYE Flourens, a young, impulsive, and hot-headed revo- 
lutionist, of whom, had he lived, some better things might yet have 
been hoped, was also eminent as a scholar. The eldest son of the 
eminent physiologist and author, Marie Jean Pierre Flourens, he 
was born in Paris, August 4, 1838, educated at the college of Louis 
the Great, and at the age of twenty-five filled his father's profes- 
sorship of Natural History in the College of France for a year 
during his absence. He had at this early date already distin- 
guished himself by an able physiological treatise, and by two or 
three novels. On his father's return the son visited Belgium, and 
from thence passed to Greece and to Candia, where he took an 
active part in the Candiote insurrection against Turkey, became a 
member of the Cretan National Assembly, and their Minister to 
Greece. He returned to France in the autumn of 1868, and be- 
came at once a leader in the Opposition. He was arrested in 



144: PAEIS ITNDEK THE COMMUNE; 

April, 1869, on the charge of offences against the Emperor, and 
condemned to three months' imprisonment. On his discharge he 
fo.ught a duel with Paul Gamier de Cassagnac, who had attacked 
him in his paper, and was severely wounded. Scarcely recovered, 
he again took the lead in the opposition to the Emperor, was con- 
cerned in the rising in relation to the arrest of Pierre Bonaparte, 
and was again imprisoned. Released by the " Government of 
National Defence," he was at first a member of that government, 
but subsequently resigned, and in December attempted its over- 
throw, leading a party who took possession of the Hotel de Yille, 
and for the time deposed Trochu. He was arrested for this, but 
subsequently set at liberty. He had gone with his whole soul 
into this insurrection, had been named one of its generals, and, 
more fortunate than some of his associates, fell in battle on the 
2d of April. 

Felix Pyat, like his associates Blanqui and Flourens, was 
widely known for his literary attainments and his successful 
authorship. He was born at Vierzon, in the Department of Cher, 
October 4, 1810 ; educated both in letters and law in Paris, and 
admitted to the bar in 1831 ; but relinquished his profession to 
become a journalist, and for the next seventeen years was con- 
nected either as sub-editor, editor, or feuilletonist with the press 
of Paris. His caustic attack on Jules Janin in 1844 led to his 
imprisonment for libel for six months. During these seventeen 
years he had become favorably known as a dramatic writer, many 
of his dramas meeting with a great success. But through most 
of these, as throughout his newspaper and review articles, there 
was always a vein of intense socialistic democracy. He was a 
democrat and a socialist to his heart's core ; not the less so, 
perhaps, because his ancestry were all legitimists and stubborn 
adherents to the old order of things. At the revolution of 1848, 
he abandoned all literary pursuits to devote himself heart and 
soul to the promotion of his socialistic theories. He was an 



OK, THE KED KEBELLION OF 1871. 145 

active participant in the organization of the Republic ; was a 
member of the Constituent Assembly, and a Commissary-General 
from Cher, and in 1849 was re-elected to the Assembly. He took 
part with Ledru Rollin in his revolt against the system of repres- 
sion which in 1849 had begun to be exercised by Louis Napoleon, 
and was in consequence exiled from France. He at first resided 
in Switzerland, but soon removed to Belgium, where for nearly 
twenty years he remained in exile supporting himself by literary 
labors, and constantly increasing in the intensity of his hatred of 
existing governments. He returned to France after the promul- 
gation of a general amnesty in August, 1869, and became one of 
the editors of the Hajjpel ; but he soon become obnoxious to the 
Emperor, and in January, 1870, was condemned, under various 
charges, to an imprisonment of seventeen months. He was set 
free by the Government of National Defence, and remained quiet 
though not inactive. He was elected a member of the National 
Assembly of February, 1871, but soon abandoned his seat in it 
because it would not meet in Paris and had made peace witli 
Germany. He was active in the councils of the Commune, and 
seemed to be one of its leading spirits, and as ultra as any of its 
members, though he was more honest than most of them. True 
to his old habits, he had edited during the insurrection a daily 
journal with the ominous 'title of Le Vevgeur. At the downfall 
of the Commune he lied, and was not discovered for some time, 
but about the 17th of June he was arrested and imprisoned. 

Louis Charles Delescluze was, like Pyat, a journalist, and 
has passed at least twenty of the past thu'ty-five years either in 
exile or in prison. He was born at Dreux, Department of Eure- 
et-Loir, October 2, 1809, was educated at the College Bourbon, in 
Paris, and afterward at the School of Law of the University. 
After the revolution of 1830 he became a member of the political 
societies then so abundant, and in 1834 was arrested for partici- 
pation in a conspiracy, and in 1835 was imphcated in a plot 



146 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

for wbich he was compelled to fly from tlie couritry. He took 
refuge in Belgium, and there edited a political paper. In 1841 
he returned to France, and became editor-in-chief of the Im/par- 
tial du Nord at Valenciennes, where he soon subjected himself 
to a month's imprisonment and 2,000 francs fine. During the 
Reform banquets which preceded the revolution' of 1848, he took 
an active part in those at Lille. After the revolution he was a 
Commissary-General of the Eepublic in the North of France, 
but after the affair of the 15th of May, in which he was impli- 
cated with Blanqui, he resigned, and again commenced editing his 
paper. In November, 1848, he founded in Paris two papers, 
The devolution, DemoGratio and Social, and Rejpublican Liberty, 
of both of which he was the manager. For some articles in these 
he was imprisoned fifteen months and fined 20,000 francs. In 
June, 1849, the first of these papers was suppressed, and M. 
Delescluze banished. After spending four years in England he 
returned to France, when he was again arrested and sentenced to 
four years in prison and 1,000 fi-ancs fine. This sentence was 
executed with great rigor ; he was sent to the galley prisons, and 
confined with the worst criminals, and often chained to them. 
At the expiration of the four years he was again arrested and 
sent to the French penal colony at Cayenne, from whence, by the 
general anmesty of 1859, he was permitted to return. After a 
few years of teaching he again attempted journalism in July, 
1868, and very soon was condemned to fifteen months' imprison- 
ment and 7,000 francs fine. He, too, was set at liberty by the 
revolution of September, 1870, and was a delegate to the National 
Assembly of February, 1871, but withdrew and became one of 
the members of the Council of the Commune. At its downfall 
he was found dead behind a barricade, having been killed on the 
25th. On his person were found duplicates of orders for firing 
the city. 

The four men whose history we have sketched, though mis- 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 187L 147 

guided and almost crazy in their fanaticism, were not adven- 
turers who plunged into this insurrection in the hope of achiev- 
ing money or power. But with many of the others there was no 
honorable motive, no high principle, even if a misguided one, 
impelling them to action. Duval, who like Flourens fell in 
battle, on the 2d of April, from utter lack of military kiiowledge, 
had been a clcKjueur at the theatres, and in his very short admin- 
istration of not more than five or six days had found time to 
plunder the treasury of the Commune. 

GusTAVE Cluseret, bom in the Gironde about 1820, entered the 
French army at an early age, and after a period of active service in 
Algeria returned to Europe, and won unusual distinction in the Cri- 
mean war, Avhere he received the rosette of the Legion of Honor, but 
left the service shortly after, professedly because he desired to de- 
vote himself to revolutionary projects, but really because he had 
been detected in some dishonorable transactions and thefts which 
made him afraid ever after to resume in France the decoration 
of the Legion of Honor. After serving for a while with Gari- 
baldi, in Italy, he came to the United States early in the war of 
the Eebellion, and engaged in service under the immediate com- 
mand of General Fremont. His principal military operation 
consisted in handling a body of troops in co-operation with a 
force under General Milroy, in Yirginia, against Stonewall Jack- 
son, and in this he won a reputation as a dashing and tireless 
leader. He did not remain long in the army, however, and 
shortly turiied up at ISTew York in control of a journal called 
The New Nation, which at once achieved notoriety by its viru- 
lent abuse of General Grant, then at the head of the armies in 
the field. After this prelude, the real object of the establishment 
of the paper, namely, the nomination of General Fremont for the 
Presidency in 1864, was disclosed. As usual in Cluseret's enter- 
prises. The New Nation shortly proved a failure. Meantime he 

had quarrelled with his candidate for the Presidency, 
10 



148 PAEIS TNDEE THE COMMUNE; 

III January, 1866, Cluseret visited England, and examined tlie 
principal arsenals and military camps. The British, authorities 
were greatly alarmed afterward on finding that the inspection 
was in the interest of the Fenian cause, and not, as Cluseret rep- 
resented at the time, for information of the military authorities 
of New York. He next went to France, engaged in financial 
projects and revolutionary schemes, and ultimately was expelled 
by the French Government. He was in the city when the French 
and German war broke out, but did nothing in connection with 
it until the Government of ISTational Defence came into power. 
He quarrelled with its leading men, and received no command. 
After the fall of Paris he stimulated revolutionary manifestations 
in Marseilles and Lyons, and then went on to Paris, where he 
was cordially received by the Reds. He was elected a member 
of the Commune, and became conspicuous for his ultra-revolu- 
tionary doctrines. Having attained the perilous station of Min- 
ister of "War under the Commune, he enacted a leading part in 
the defence of Paris, attaching himself with singular desperation 
to the fluctuating fortunes of the Communists, and displaying 
■considerable ability in controlling that turbulent faction. His 
administration was, however, interrupted by a period of arrest 
and imprisonment for permitting the garrison at Fort d'Issy to be 
surprised. It does not appear that he afterward fully recovered 
Ms former power as Minister, though nominally holding the 
position. 

Personally, Cluseret is described as having been tall, soldierly 
in his bearing, and of a disposition which has caused it to be said 
that, during a campaign, he was always either fighting or in pur- 
suit of some woman. Though able to speak English well, he had 
a singular inability to write it. He was reported at first to have 
been shot by the Yersaillists, but the report proved untrue, though 
according to late news he is a prisoner, and his execution extremely 
probable. 



OE, THE EED EEBELLION OF 1871. 149 

IIenei, Yiscoiint de RociiEFOET-LugAT, who, by the recent death 
of his father, has become Marquis de Rochef ort, was born in July, 
1S33. His father was a dramatist, but onp of little note. As a boy, 
Rochefort was impetuous and fiery ; even before the end of his 
school-days he had fought his first duel, and physical bravery 
was a marked feature of his character. At school and collec:e 
his satirical verses attracted attention and praise, and his repub- 
lican beliefs appeared even in his earliest writings. He is said to 
have derived his political theories from his mother, a woman of 
strong and fixed republican principle. In a collection of stories 
of his boyhood is a striking account of his leadership of a school 
riot, caused by his determined 023position to what he fancied 
" tyranny." Chosen from his school to read a poem before the 
Archbishop of Paris, he defied authority by the bitter satire of 
his verses, and incurred the censuir of his teachers ; but this did 
not prevent his taking his degree at their academy in 1850. He 
soon abandoned the study of medicine, which he at first pursued, 
and secured, through family influence, a clerkship in a govern- 
ment ofiice, from which he was afterward transferred to other 
similar posts, though ultimately unsuccessful in them all. After 
these changes he found his career at last, and became an editor 
of the Paris Charivari. In journalism he attained great success, 
and in 1868 he was one of the prominent editors of the Figaro. 
His few dramas also met with some favor, and his satires were 
brilliant and cutting. 

The beginning of his open and formidable attack on the im- 
perial government was his publication of the famous Lanterne. 
The imprudent wrath which the government displayed against this 
publication only added to the unexampled success of his satires, 
which were most keen and bitter, though their literary merit was 
not always so great as at their beginning. Banished for his per- 
sistent opposition, he continued the publication of the Lanterne 
at Brussels, but returned to Paris in time to become involved in 



150 PAKIS rNDEK THE COMMUNE ; 

the agitations provoked bj the shooting of Yictor Noir, and for 
his part in these he was imprisoned, only to be released by the 
revolution of September. He was a member of the Provisional 
Government, and took part in the defence of Paris ; but at the 
end he found himself placed in a strange position by the estab- 
lishment of the Commune. Pegarded as too fiery an agitator by 
the Yersailles Government, he preferred to remain within the 
city ; but, throughout the turbulent days that ensued, he mani- 
fested little sympathy with the Communist leaders, used his 
influence on the side of order, and was regarded with no little 
suspicion by the men whose fanaticism surpassed his own. 

It was while attempting to escape from Paris that Pochefort 
was captured by the Yersaillists ; and his trial is announced to 
take place in July. 

Bebgeeet, a printer, and atheistic braggart, ignorant, conceited, 
and pompous, had a very short career as Chief of Staff, being 
arrested on the 7th of April for " military failure and insubordi- 
nation." He was succeeded by General Dombeowski, a Polish 
adventurer and knave, once a subordinate ofiicer in the Pussian 
army, and there a notorious counterfeiter ; then, to escape from 
transportation to the mines of the Ural, a Pussian pimp and spy ; 
later a spy of Prussia during the war, and when his companion- 
ship with Cluseret had enabled him to grasp power, he too opened 
negotiations with the Yersailles government to betray the city to 
them, but was removed from supreme command too soon to be 
able to complete the transaction, but in some way regained his 
authority, and, wounded in a barricade fight on the 22 d, died the 
next day at the Hotel de Yille. 

Louis ISTatiianiel Possel, Dombrowski's successor, whatever 
may have been his antecedents, was in haste to offer to betray his 
trust, coupling it with the horrible proposition to leave twelve or 
fourteen thousand of the National Guard to be butchered by the 
government troops, without the means of resistance, and to deliver 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 151 

np the forts Yanvres and Issj. lie was in the battles of the 21- 
2Sth May, but escaped from Paris, and returning thither was ar- 
rested, June 7. His faihire and his imprisonment led to the ele- 
vation <;)f General Eudks, a young ambitious man who, in August, 
1870, had been condemned to death for exciting an insurrection 
at Belleville, and was only kept from turning traitor by the en- 
ergy and decision of his wife ; " General " "Wroblewski, a Polish 
music-teacher, dancing-master, and thief, with no military knowl- 
edge, and so depraved that he had robbed his fellow Polish exiles 
of a large sum ; Billiorat, a worthless adventurer from Lyons, 
formerly a hurdy-gurdy player, who, in his capacity as the last 
Minister of AYar, did all in his power to surrender the strongholds 
of Issy and Yanvres to the government troops, but was taken and 
shot in the final struggle, manifesting the most pitiable cowardice. 

Paschal Grousset, a lazy, conceited dandy, who had been a 
sub-editor of one of the Paris journals, but too indolent to gain 
any very high position, was assigned by the Commune to the post 
of Minister of Foreign Affairs, for which his only qualification 
was his dress. lie was somewhat less brutal than others of the 
leaders of the Commune, and escaped for the time, but was ar- 
rested on the 4th of June and is to be tried in July, 

Raoul Pigault, a thoroughbred rufiian, who delighted in shed- 
ding blood, was the Minister of Public Safety or Chief of Police. 
lie caused the murder of Gustavo Chaudey, and gave the order 
for the execution, without even the forms of law, of Archbishop 
Darboy and his fellow-prisoners, after the Yersaillists had entered 
the city. His own career was very short ; for the next day he 
was taken prisoner, and, being identified, was placed against a 
blank wall and shot. 

Of the remaining more prominent members of the Commune, 
Assi, a weak-minded but turbulent fellow, the representative of 
the "International Society of Workingmen," who was always in 
a quarrel with his fellow-members of the Commune, was taken 



XO-Ji PAKIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

prisoner while trying to escape, and was remanded for trial at 
the same court with Eochefort, Amoueoux, Jules Miot, 
Jules Yalles, and Jules Fekee. Beunel, Yablin, Gam- 
BON, Lefkanqais, Longuet, Yidal, Yilain, Sulliee, who was 
really insane, Salinski, Dombrowski's aide-de-camp, Beuneeon, 
JouEDE, Teeilhaed, and Moilin were shot, and Gaillaed was 
killed in a rencontre with a soldier. General Eudes was said to 
have escaped ; but his wife, a young and beautiful woman of great 
resolution, but a complete fanatic in her adherence to the ideas 
of the Commune, was taken at Belleville at a barricade, arms in 
hand, and shot. As the soldiers were ordered to fire at her, she 
said, " What matters death, if it is for the good cause ! " General 
La Cecilia attempted to commit suicide, but failed and escaped ; 
but his wife was killed in the act of building a barricade. 

In the whole number of these men of the Commune there was 
no one whose abilities were such as to qualify him to become a 
great leader. There was not one of those who were active in the 
insurrection whom his associates fully trusted. Disbelieving in a 
God, they distrusted all men. 



OB, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 153. 



CHAPTER YI. 

The Final Treaty of Peace with Germany. 

While President Thiers was thus exertino; all his enei^ies to 
put down the insurrection in Paris, another matter was occupying 
much of his thoughts and requiring the exercise of his diplomatic 
skill and influence. It will be remembered that the treaty be- 
tween France and Germany accepted by the National Assembly 
on the 1st of March, and ratified by the German Emperor on the 
3d of the same month, was only a preliminary treaty: it put an 
end to hostilities and provided for peace; but it was liable to 
material modifications of details by the Commissioners appointed 
by the high contracting powers to make a permanent treaty, which 
must, in its turn, be ratified by the !N"ational AssemlMj^ and the 
Emperor. The Commissioner of France for the negotiation of 
this treaty was Jules Favre, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 
unquestionably the ablest statesman in the Republic ; M. Pou- 
yer-Quertier was associated with him, and later M. de Goulard 
also. On the part of Germany, Prince Bismarck was of course 
the negotiator. President Thiers was consulted at every step by 
Favi*e, and the Herr von Ai-nim was Bismarck's counsellor and 
associate. 

Many difficulties occurred in the negotiation of the treaty. The 
insurrection in Paris not only by its duration engendered doubts 
of the continuance of the Republic, but, requiring large and im- 
mediate expenditures for its suppression, prevented the payment 
of the first instalment of the indemnity at the time agreed, and 
tlius the relief of the country from the heavy burden of the 



154 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

German army of occupation. There were, besides, several par 
ticulars in the preliminary treaty which bore with undue severity 
on France, and which Favre sought to have modified. At length, 
on the 10th of May, 1871, after much deliberation and argument, 
the following treaty was agreed upon by the Commissioners : — * 

Treaty of Peace. 

Article I. The distance from the city of Belfort to the line of the fron- 
tier, as it was at first proposed at the time of the negotiations at Versailles, and 
as it is found marked upon the map annexed to the instrument ratified at the 
preliminary treaty of peace of the 26th of February, is considered as indi- 
cating the measure of the radius which, in virtue of the clause relative thereto 
in the first article of the preliminaries, should remain to France with the city 
and fortifications of Belfort. 

The German Grovemment is disposed to enlarge this radius to such an extent 
that it shall comprehend .the Cantons of Belfort, Delle, and Gii'omagny, as 
well as the western part of the Canton of Fontaine, west of a line drawn 
from the point where the canal from the Rhone to the Rhine leaves the Can- 
ton of Delle at the south of the Chateau of Montreux up to the northern 
boundary of the Canton between Bourg and Ffelon, where this line joins the 
eastern boundary of the Canton of Giromagny. 

The German Government meanwhile only cedes the territories indicated 
above upon the condition that the French Republic, on its side, shall consent 
to a rectification of its frontier along the western limits of the Cantons of 
Catenom and of Thionville, such as shall leave to Germany the lands to the 
east of a line starting from the frontier of Luxembourg, between Hussigny 
and Reclingen, leaving to France the villages of Thil and Villerupt, extend- 
ing between Erronville and Aumetz, between Beuvilliers and Boulange, be- 
tween Brieux and Lomeringen, and joining the old line of the frontier between 
Avril and Meyeuvre. 

The International Commission provided for in the first article of the pre- 
liminary treaty shall, immediately after the exchange of ratifications of the 
present treaty, return to this region to execute the labors imposed upon it, and 
to make a drawing of the new frontier in conformity with the preceding data. 

Akt. 2. French subjects, natives of the ceded territories and actually resid- 
ing in them, who may desire to preserve their French nationality, shall enjoy, 
up to October 1, 1872, the right, provided they make a previous declaration 
before a competent authority, of removing their domicil into France and estab- 
lishing it there ; and this right shall not be affected by the law of military 

* This treaty, which, has not hitherto appeared in EngUsh, is translated from 
the ofBcial French text expressly for this history. 



OR, THE RED REDELLION OF 1871. 155 

serTice, their condition of French citizenship being maintained. Tliey shall 
be free to retain their landed estate situated in the territory annexed to Ger- 
many. 

No inhabitant of the ceded, territories shall be prosecuted, disquieted, or 
annoyed, either in his person or his goods, in consequence of any political or 
military acts committed by him during the war. 

Akt. 8. The French Government will deliver to the German Government the 
archives, documents, and registers appertaining to the civil, military, and judi- 
cial administration of the ceded territories. 

If any of these titles have been removed, they will be restored Ijy the French 
Government on the demand of the German Government. 

Art. 4. The French Government will deliver to the Government of the 
Empire of Germany, witliin six months from the date of the ratification of 
this treaty — 

1. The amount of the sums deposited by the departments, the communes, 
and the public establishments of the ceded territories. 

2. The amount of premiums for enrolment or substitution appertahaing to 
native soldiers and. sailors of the ceded territories who shall prefer a German 
nationality. 

3. The amount of bonds of the ofRcers of the State. 

4. The amount of the sums dei^osited pending judicial decisions in conse- 
quence of measures taken by the administrative or judicial authorities in the 
ceded territories. 

Art. 5. The two nations shall enjoy equal privileges in that which concerns 
the navigation of the Moselle, the canal from the Marne to the Rhine, the 
canal fi-om the Rhone to the Rhine, the canal of the Sarre, and the navigable 
waters communicating Avith these routes of navigation. The right of rafting 
shall be maintained. 

Art. G. The high parties contracting, being of the opinion that the dio- 
cesan boundaries of the territories ceded to the German Empire should coin- 
cide with the new frontier determined by the first article above, will act in 
concert after the ratification of this treaty, without delay, upon measures to be 
agreed upon for this purjoose. 

Tliose communities which appertain either to the Refomied Church or to 
the Augsliurg Confession, established upon the territories ceded by France, 
will cease to be dependent upon their French ecclesiastical authorities. The 
communities of the Church of the Confession of Augsburg will cease to be 
dependent upon the Superior Consistory and Director sitting at Strasbom-g. 

The Israelite communities of the territories situated to the east of the new 
frontier will no longer be dependent upon the Israelite Central Consistory sitting 
at Paris. 

Art. 7. The payment of five hundred millions of francs will be made in 
thirty days after the re-establishment of the authority of the French Govern- 
ment in the city of Paris. One thousand million francs will be paid dming 
the cu'.rent year, and five hundred millions more on the 1st of May, 1873. 



156 PAKIS rNDEE THE COMMUNE; 

The last three thousand millions remain payable on the 2d. of March, 1874, aa 
was stipulated in the preliminary treaty of peace. Beginning with the 2d of 
March of the current year, the interest of these thi'ee thousand millions of 
francs will be payable on the 3d of March of each year, at the rate of five per 
cent, per annum. 

All sums paid in advance on the last three thousand millions will cease to 
bear interest from tlie day on which the payment is made. 

All payments will be made in the principal commercial cities of Germany, 
and will be received in gold or silver, in bills of the Bank of England, the 
Bank of Prussia, the Eoyal Bank of Netherlands, the National Bank of Bel- 
gium, in bills payable to order, or negotiable letters of exchange of the first 
class, at their recognized value. 

The German Government having fixed in France the value of the Prussian 
thaler at three francs seventy-five centimes, the French Government accepts 
the conversion of the money of the two countries upon the basis thus indi- 
cated. 

Tlie French Government will inform the German Government tlu-ee months 
in advance of any payment which they intend to make into the treasury of the 
German Empire. 

After the payment of the first five hundred millions of francs and the rati- 
fication of the definitive treaty of peace, the departments of the Somme, of 
the Seine-Infeiieure, and of the Eure, will be evacuated, so far as they may 
still be occupied by German troops. The evacuation of the departments of ' 
Oise, the Seine and Oise, the Seine and Marne, and the Seine, as well as of the 
forts of Paris, will take place as soon as tlie German Government shall con- 
sider the re-establishment of order both in Paris and throughout France sufli- 
cient to assume the execution of the engagements contracted by France. In 
any event, this evacuation will take place on the payment of the third five 
hundred million francs. 

The German troops, for the purpose of safety, have the control of the neu- 
tral zone lying between the line of German demarcation and the enceinte of 
Paris on the right bank of the Seine. 

The stipulations of the treaty of the 26th of February, relative to the occu- 
pation of the French temtories after the payment of the two thousand mil- 
lions of francs, will remain in force. Any deductions which the French Gov- 
ernment shall have the right to make shall not be attempted till after the 
payment of the first five hundred millions of francs. 

Akt. 8. The German troops will continue to abstain from requisitions in 
kind and in money in the occupied territories, this obligation on their part 
being correlative to the obligations contracted for their maintenance by the 
French Government ; but in the event of the French Government delaying to 
execute the said obligations, notwithstanding the reiterated reclamations of 
the German Government, the German troops shall have the right of themselves 
procming that which may be necessary for their sustenance, by levying imposts 



OE, THE KED REBELLION OF 1871. 157 

and requisitions in tlic departments occupied, oi- even beyond them, if their 
resources are not sufficient. 

As to the alimentation of the Gcmian troops, the regulations now in force 
shall be maintained up to the evacuation of tlie forts of Paris. In virtue of 
the convention of Ferri^res, of March 11, 1871, the reductions indicated by 
that convention will take effect after the evacuation of the forts. . 

When the effective force of the Gennan army shall he reduced below five 
hundred thousand men, the reduction made below that figure shall Ije reck- 
oned to cstaljlish a projiortional diminution in the price of maintenance of the 
troops paid by the French Government. 

Art. 9. The exceptional arrangement heretofore made in regard to the pro- 
ducts of industry in the ceded territories, intended for importation into France, 
shall be continued for the space of six months after the 1st of March, on the 
conditions made with the Alsatian delegates. 

Art. 10. The German Government will continue to send back the prisoners 
of war in accordance with its understanding with the French Government. 
The French Government will return to their own homes those of these j)rison- 
ers who have served out their term of enlistment. As to those who have not 
completed their term of service, they will place them in camps behind the 
Loke. 

It is understood that the army of Paris and Versailles, after the re-establish- 
ment of the authority of the French Government at Paris, and up to the 
evacuation of the forts by the German troops, shall not exceed 80,000 men. 
Up to the date of this evacuation the French Government shall not concen- 
trate any of its troops on the right bank of the Loire ; but it may lirovide 
regular garrisons to the cities situated within this zone, according to their 
necessities, for the maintenance of order and the public peace. 

In proportion as the evacuation takes place, the chiefs of the army corps 
shall together fix upon a neutral zone between the anuies of the two nations. 

Twenty thousand prisoners will be sent without delay to Lyons, on the con- 
dition that they shall be forwarded immediately after their organization to 
Algeria, to be employed in that colony. 

Art. 11. The treaties of commerce with the different States of Germany 
having been annulled by the war, the French Government and the German 
Government -will take for the basis of their commercial relations, reciprocal 
obligations on the footing of the most favored nations. 

There are comprised under this rule the rights of entrance and clearance, 
transit, customs formalities, the admission and the treatment of the subjects 
of the two nations, as well as of their agents. 

Meanwhile there will be excepted from the rule aforesaid the favors which 
either of the contracting parties by treaties of commerce has accorded or may 
accord to any other States than those which follow : England, Belgium, the 
Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia. Treaties of navigation, as 
well as the convention relative to the international service of raUi'oads in their 



158 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE ; 

connection with customs, and the convention for the reciprocal guaranty of 
property in works of literature and art, mil be continued in force. 

Nevertheless the French government reserves to itself the i)ower to levy du- 
ties of tonnage and the flag, upon all German ships and their cargoes, under the 
reservation that these duties shall not be higher than those which they charge 
upon the ships and cargoes of the aforementioned nations. 

Art. 1 2. All Germans expelled from France will retain the full and enthe 
enjoyment of all the property which they have acquired in France. Those 
Germans who have obtained the authorization required by the French laws 
for their domicil in France will be restored to all their rights, and may iu con- 
sequence establish their domicil upon French soil. 

The delay stipulated by French laws in obtaining naturalization will be con- 
sidered as not being interrupted by the state of war, in the case of those per- 
sons who may avail themselves of the privilege before mentioned of returning 
to France, after a delay of six months after the exchange of ratitications of this 
treaty, and the time passed between their expulsion and their return to French 
soil will be reckoned as if they had never ceased to reside in France. The 
conditions already stated will apply in perfect reciprocity to all French subjects 
residing or desiring to reside in Germany. 

Art. 13. German ships which were condemned by prize courts previous to 
March 2d, 1871, will be considered as definitively condemned. Those which 
had not been condemned at the date above indicated will be restored, with 
their cargoes, if these are still in existence. If the restitution of ship and car- 
go is no longer possible, their value, fixed according to the price of sale, will 
be returned to their owners. 

Art. 14. Each of the two contracting parties will continue upon its own soil 
the labors undertaken for the canalization of the Moselle. The common inter- 
ests of the parties separated from the two departments of the Meurthe and 
the Moselle will be liquidated. 

Art. 15. The high parties contracting engage mutually to extend to their re- 
spective subjects such measures as they shall judge desirable to adopt m favor 
of those of their people who, in consequence of the events of the war, have been 
unable to arrive at their homes iu season for the protection or preservation of 
their rights. 

Art. 16. The two governments, French and German, engage reciprocally to 
cause to be respected and preserved the graves of the soldiers bm-ied on their 
respective soils. 

Art. 17. The regulation of minor points, upon which a mutual understand- | 
ing ought to be established in consequence of this and the preliminary treaty, 
vnll be the object of ulterior negotiations, which will take jjlace at Frankfort. 

Art. 18. The ratifications of the present treaty by the National Assembly 
and the chief of the executive power of the French Republic on the one side, 
and on the other by his Majesty the Emperor of Germany, will be exchanged : 
at Frankfort after a delay of ten days, or less if possible. ' 



OR, THE KED KEBELLION OF 1871. 159 

In faith of which the respective plenipotentiaries have affixed their signa- 
tures and the seals of their arms. 

Done at Frankfort, the tenth of May, 1871. 

[l. 8.] Jules Favrr. 

[l. s.] Von Bismauck. 

[l. s.] Potjyer-Quektiek. 

[i.. s.] Arnim. 

[l. s.] C. de Goulard. 

Additional Articles. 

Art. 1, § 1st. At the time fixed for the exchange of ratifications of tlis pre- 
sent treaty, the French Government -will use its right of redcmjition of the con- 
cession granted to the company of the Eastern Railway. The German Govern- 
ment will assume all the rights which the French Government would have 
acquired by the redemption of the concessions in that which concerns the rail- 
ways situated in the ceded territory, whether completed or in progress. 

§ 2d. There will be comprised in this concession : 

1. All the lands appertaining to the said Company, whatever their situa- 
tion, and also termini and station-houses, sheds, workshops, warehouses, look- 
outs, etc. 

2. All the real estate which belongs to these, and also baniers, fences, 
sidings, switches, turn-tables, water-tanks, hydi-aulic cranes, fixed machines, 
etc., etc. 

3. All combustible materials and movables of all kinds, furniture of sta- 
tions, tools of workshops and termini, etc., etc. 

4. The sums due to the Company of the Eastern Railway, in the way of sub- 
sidies granted by coq^orations or individuals resident in the ceded territories. 

§ 3d. There will be excluded from this cession the rolling stock. Tlie Ger- 
man Government will give up that portion of the rolling stock, mth its acces- 
sories, which may be found at that time in the possession of the French Gov- 
ernment. 

§ 4th. The French Government engages, as towards the German Empire, to 
discharge the railways ceded, as well as then- dependencies, from all claims 
which third parties might bring against them, to wit, the claims of bond- 
holders. It also engages to substitute itself for the German Government, 
should the case occur, in relation to all demands which may be brought 
against the German Government by the creditors of the railways in question. 

§ 5th. The French Government will assume the satisfaction of all demands 
which the Eastern Railway Company may raise against the German Govern- 
ment or its attorneys, in regard to the employment of the said railway, and 
the use of the objects indicated in the second paragraph, as well as to the roll- 
ing stock. 

The German Government will communicate to the French Government, at 
its request, all the documents and information which may aid in ascertaining 
the facts on which the demands above mentioned may be based. 



160 PARIS TJNDEK THE COMMIJNE ; 

§ 6th. Tlie German Government will pay to the French Government for the 
cession of the proprietary rights indicated in paragraphs 1 and 3, and in the 
way of an equivalent for the guarantee made by the French Government in 
paragraph 4, the sum of three hundred and twenty-five millions (325,000,000) 
of francs. 

They will deduct this sum from the war indemnity stipulated in Aiiicle 7. 

§ 7th. Having seen the situation wliich has served as the basis of the conven- 
tion concluded between the Eastern Railway Company and the Royal Grand 
Ducal Society of the Railway William Luxembourg, under date of June 6, 
1857, and January 31, 1868, and that concluded between the Government of 
the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the societies of the railways William 
Luxembourg and the French East, under date of December 5, 1868, and which 
have been modified essentially, so that they are not applicable to the state of 
things created by the stipulations contained in the first paragraph, the Ger- 
man Government declares itself ready to assume the rights and charges result- 
ing from these conventions for the Eastern Railway Company. 

In case the French Government should obtain the control, either by repur- 
chase of the concession to the Eastern Railway Company, or by a special agree- 
ment, of the rights of this society, in virtue of the conventions above indicated, 
it engages to yield gratuitously, after a delay of six weeks, its rights in it to 
the German Government. 

In case the said substitution shall not be effected, the French Government 
will only relinquish the concessions for the lines of railway appertaining to 
the Eastern Company and situated in French territory, on the express condition 
that the party to whom it is conceded shall not work the lines of railway 
situated in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. 

Art. 3. The German Government offers two millions of fi-ancs for the 
rights and properties which the Eastern Railway Company possess in that 
part of its system of railway situated in Swiss territory, from the frontier to 
Basle, if the French Government will gain its consent to a delay of a month. 

Art. 3. The cession of tenitory around Belfort, offered by the German 
Government in article 1st of the present treaty, in exchange for the rectifica- 
tion of frontier demanded west of Thionville, will be augmented by the f ol- 
lomng territories and villages : Rougemont, Leval, Petite Fontaine, Romagny, 
Felon, La Chapelle-sous-Rougemont, Angeot, Vauthier-Mont, La Riviere, La 
Grange, Reppe, Fontaine Frais, Foussemagne, Cuneli&res, Montreux Chateau, 
Bretagne, Chavannes-les-Grands, Chavanatte, and Suarce. 

The route from Giromagny to Remiremont, passing in a balloon from 
Alsace, remains to France throughout its whole extent, and will serve for . 
boundary, inasmuch as it is situated outside of the Canton of Giromagny. 

Done at Frankfort, May 10, 1871. 

(Signed) Jules Favre. 

Pottyer-Qttertier. 
De Gotjlard. 
Von Bismarck. 
Arnim. 



OK, THE KED KEBELLION OF 1871. IGl 

This treaty was ratified, not without considerable urgency on 
the part of M. Thiers, by the Assembly on the 17th of May, 505 
voting for it, and only 11 against it. It was ratified on the part 
of the German Emperor on the 19th. 

The financial condition of France would be alarmino; to most 
nations ; but the buoyancy and hopefulness of the French will 
perhaps enable them to struggle along successfully with it. 

The state of the case is about as follows : — 

Tlie debt previous to the war was, in round numbers $3,000,000,000 

M. Thiers states the cost of the Franco-German War at 600,000,000 

This is independent of local losses and requisitions, and ran- 
soms of cities and to'UTis, which was nearly double this, 
the indemnity required from Paris alone being $200,000- 

000, and the destruction of property being enormous 1,200,000,000 

The expense of the insurrection in Paris to the Versailles Gov- 
ernment was 87,200,000 

And the Commune itself s^jent about 25,000,000 

The loss of property, public and private, by the incendiary 
fires and the other destructive acts of the Commune, all of 
which must be replaced so far as possible, was more than. . 100,000,000 
Add the indemnity to Germany 1,000,000,000 

$6,012,200,000 

The deficit for the year 1870-71 was, including the suppres- 
sion of the Paris insurrection, 2,067,000,000 francs, equal to 
$413,400,000, and part of this was met by a loan from the Bank 
of France. 

The burden of taxation is so severe that there is danger that it 
may be escaped by an almost wholesale emigration. 

Yet among the French people the credit of the State is good. 
A subscription loan was voted by the Assembly to raise the 
money to pay the first instalment of the indemnity to Germany, 
and though the reports were not full at the date of our writing 
(July 1), it was certain that 1,000 million dollars had been sub- 
scribed, the poor and even servants offering their little hoards, and 



162 PAEIS rnSTDEK THE COMMUNE. 

large sums being taken by German bankers. The loan, it should 
be stated, was offered at 82 per cent. 

If this spirit continues, the burden, though heavy, may not 
prove ruinous ; but France is certainly under very heavy bonds to 
keep the peace. 

On the 2d of July, 1871, an election vs^as held throughout 
France to choose 112 members of the l^ational Assembly to fill 
existing vacancies. The election was of great importance, as the 
permanency of the Republican Government now in existence de- 
pended largely on the political complexion of the new members. 
To the surprise of most, the members elected were eighty-six 
Moderate Republicans (supporters of M. Thiers), thirteen Radi- 
cals, who would generally support his measures, two Legitimists, 
three Orleanists, and one Bonapartist. As several members were 
elected by more than one constituency, there were but 105 in all 
elected. This secures the continuance of M. Thiers's Adminis- 
tration for two years, if he lives so long. 

The Teiumphal Entry of the German Troops into Berlin. 

The final treaty ratified, and the larger part of the German 
troops withdrawn from France, there was a strong desire through- 
out Germany to commemorate by a grand festal day the victories 
of the German arms. The government willingly responded to 
the demands of the people, and it was determined to have the 
triumplial procession at Berlin, and on the same occasion to un- 
veil the equestrian statue of Frederick William III. (father of 
the Emperor), which had long been in process of erection, but 
was now completed. The 16th of June was the day fixed upon 
for the festal occasion ; and as it would have been too tedious 
and altogether impracticable to have the great mass of the army 
there, it was decided to have only representative troops take part 
in the procession. The first division of the Emperors Guards 




ILLITMINATION IN BERLIN. 



OR, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 165 

held the first place on the right and were present in full ranks ; 
on the left was a combined battalion of the King's Grenadiers^ 
the arm of the service to \Yhich the Emperor belonged, and which 
he commanded before he came to the throne. The representa- 
tives of these regiinents, and of the bands of music connected 
with them, numbered 1,062 men. 

The Second Division consisted of the comhined battalion of 
the German army^ representing by a single subordinate officer or 
soldier, each infantry regiment of that grand army. They num- 
bered six hundred and eighty-eight men, and bore with them 
eighty-one standards, eagles, and banners captured from the 
French. On their left was a combined squadron of cavalry, one 
hundred and thirty representatives of the entire regular cavaliy 
force of the German army, and forming a most brilliant array. 

These were followed by a combined battery— ^yk. batteries of 
artillery— representing the whole artillery force of the army, with 
one hundred and thirteen men, and these in turn by the repre- 
sentatives of the train, the engineers, pontoniers, commissaries, 
purveyors, etc., as well as the medical and sanitary departments, 
the chaplains, etc., sixty-three men in all. A deputation from 
the Marines followed. To each division there was attached a 
guard either of infantry or cavalry. Commanding these divisions 
were the great generals of the war, the Prince Augustus of Wiir- 
temberg, the Counts of Brandenburg, Generals Manteuffel, Yon 
Pape, Dannenberg, Alvensleben, Tiimpling, Von Goeben, etc. 
The Triumphal Way for this occasion was the noble Unter den 
Linden, into which the procession, entering by the gate of Halle, 
came. 

As the forty-five thousand troops forming the procession ap- 
proached the gate, the Emperor, his staff, and cortege rode along 
the lines to review them. 

On the right flank was the staff of the Emperor and the Em- 
peror himself on a dark bay horse. He was followed by the Em- 



166 PARIS UNDEK THE COMMUNE. 

press, the Crown Princess, and eight carriages containing princes 
and ladies of the household of the Emperor. As they rode up a 
royal salute was given, with three ringing cheers. The Emperor 
proceeded rapidly along the front, several divisions of infantry 
presenting arms by brigades. Each division ' then instantly 
marched to take position for entrance at the Gate of Halle. 

The civic dignitaries of Berlin, under the gigantic equestrian 
statue of Frederick the Great, waited to welcome the troops. 
Field-Marshal Wrangel and other superannuated officers led the 
procession. The fighting staff, led by Blumenthal, chief of the 
staff of the Crown Prince, followed. Then came the Military 
Governors, succeeded by corps commanders, and other command- 
ers of the armies. Next came Prince Bismarck, Count Moltke, 
and Herr von Roon, who were received with tempestuous cheering. 
They were followed by the Emperor William, the Crown Prince 
on a chestnut horse, Prince Frederick Charles on a bay horse, and 
most of the other German princes in glittering uniforms. 

With steady tramp came the stalwart infantry guard. Drums 
might beat, and the music swell in mighty volumes, but the tre- 
mendous cheering prevented their sound from being heard. 
Thus, amid the waving of handkerchiefs and clapping of hands 
and loud vociferations of the populace, the long anaconda-shaped 
mass of fighting men entered the city. On passing through the 
gate the Emperor halted and received an address of congratula- 
tion from a bevy of young ladies of Berlin, and kissed the 
speaker, Fraulein Blasar. At the head of Tenter den Linden he 
received an address from the Burgomaster of the city, who 
was accompanied by the magistrates. 

The procession passed along Unter den Linden under the 
symbols of victory and between the captured cannon (more than 
two thousand in number), flanked by a sea of human beings 
rising in billows to the tops of the houses. The procession 
passed the Palace, the University, and the Opera House, to 




TRnnUTPHAL ARCH ERECTED AT FRANKFORT. 



OK, THE RED REBELLION OF 1871. 169 

where the statue of Blucher stands in bronze, where the mem- 
bers of the Imperial Diet were also assembled. Here the Em- 
peror wheeled his horse around, and with the royal princes, 
generals, and members of the staff on either side, the troops 
marched past in review. The squadron of horsemen made a 
gallant show. From the terraces of the Imperial Castle royal 
ladies smiled and showered greetings on the conquerors. The 
appearance of the men was superb, and the enthusiasm of the 
great masses of spectators, as they passed by, was unbounded. 
Each regiment as it entered the Pariser Platz, where the crowd 
was the greatest, was cheered with unfailing enthusiasm. Some 
of the regiments, well known to the Berliners and others, which 
had particularly distinguished themselves during the campaign, 
received special ovations, the people breaking into their ranks, 
crowning them with wreaths, and ovei'wliclming them with 
flowers. 

The troops formed three sides of a square in the Lust-Garden, 
around the veiled statue of William III. In fi^ont of the fight- 
ing-men stood the musicians and trumpeters in three ranks. 
Fronting the Palace were the standard-bearers, with the captured 
trophies from the hall and museum. Behind all were the full- 
medalled veterans, invalids, old warriors, yeomen of the palace, 
and royal gendarmes. The seats fronting on the Palace were 
packed with the officers and guards of the garrison, and around 
the statue gradually collected a dense group of Ministers, Coun- 
cillors of State, municipal officers, and clergymen. The Em- 
pei'or and suite and the Princes entered the square, and took 
positions under the awning between the fountains. The troops 
presented arms, and the bearers of the trophies laid them at the 
foot of the statue amid the loud and prolonged roll of the drums, 
while the cathedral choir burst into a hymn of praise, and the 
Chaplain-General, standing on the steps of the monument, after- 
wards offered a short prayer. 



170 PARIS UNDER THE COMMUNE. 

Prince Bismarck then approached the Emperor, and asked 
leave to unveil the statue. The Emperor bowed, and Bismarck 
moved his hand, when the canvas fell from the statue, while the 
drums rolled, trumpets blared, and the standards of the guards 
were lowered toward the statue. The troops presented arms 
and cheered loudly, and a salute was fired of 101 guns, the 
church bells broke into an instantaneous ringing, while out of the 
turmoil the national air resolved itself. 

The Emperor, helmet in hand, then approached his father's 
statue and walked slowly around it. Then, standing at the foot 
of the statue he addressed the vast audience briefly, closing with 
these words — 

" This monument, which was projected in a time of profound 
peace, now becomes the memorial of one of the most brilliant, 
though bloodiest of modern wars. May the peace so dearly 
achieved be a lasting one ! " 

The ceremonies closed with the conferring of honors on the 
victorious commanders. Numerous orders were granted by the 
Emperor, and the hereditary command of the most distinguished 
regiments was given to various Generals and Princes. Among 
those who received these marks of fame from the hands of the 
Emperor were Prince George of Saxony and Prince Leopold of 
Bavaria. Gen. von Roon was elevated to the rank of Count 
of the Empire, and Gen. von Moltke was made Field Marshal of 
the Imperial army. 

Congratulatory dispatches were received from all the German 
cities, and Yienna, through its German citizens, gave utterance 
to its rejoicings over a united and victorious Germany. In the 
evening the whole city was illuminated, and patriotic inscriptions 
greeted the eye everywhere. 



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EMBRACING THE FULL TEXT OP 

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BEING THE ONLY TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH. 



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AUTHOR or '•THE CIVEL WAS IN AMERICA," " CtMP, BATTLEFIELD, AND HOSl'IT-U:," " WOM^VM': 
WORK IN THE CIVIL WAR," "THE YEAR OF BATTLES," 

ETC., ETC. 



3llustratcti. 



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